Graphene–metal hybrid plasmonic switch

Abstract

The optical properties of a graphene material are analyzed first and a novel graphene–metal hybrid plasmonic switching in the near-infrared band is demonstrated in this study. The proposed hybrid structure is composed of metal–insulator–metal (MIM) waveguides and a graphene material. The switching is achieved by controlling the gate voltage of the graphene sheet. The switch’s functionality is verified by two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. As applications, two different plasmonic switch structures are presented. The graphene–metal hybrid plasmonic structure may have potential applications in ultracompact integrated circuits and nanophotonic networks.