Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 200 (2020) 163365

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Optik
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijleo

Original research article

Plasmonic wave propagation mode analysis of single and multi-

T
layer graphene-pec structures
⁎
Seyed Arash Naghdehforooshha, Gholamreza Moradi
Wave Propagation and Microwave Measurement Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology,
Tehran 1591634311, Iran

A R T IC LE I N F O ABS TRA CT

Keywords: Plasmonic graphene-PEC structure is presented for THz frequency range in detailed analysis. The
Graphene number of graphene layer effect on Surface Plasmon Polariton (SPP) wave behaviour is analyzed.
Graphene-PEC structure Moreover, the graphene characteristics and propagation mode are presented. In the following,
Plasmonic the proposed structure, graphene-PEC, analyzes in each electromagnetic field component in
THz
details. The numerical solver COMSOL Multiphysics is utilized to demonstrate that the graphene-
PEC structure support quasi-TEM mode which classical approach is still true in THz band.

1. Introduction

Graphene as planar structure of carbon atoms in honeycomb lattice has paid tremendous attention in recent years. Due to unique
electromagnetic (EM) wave properties of graphene, high frequency development of devices such as hyperbolic metasurfaces, an-
tennas, waveguides and absorbers have been studied as the interest of scientific communities in many fields at terahertz region. These
components provide more advantages based on the confined surface plasmon polariton (SPP) propagation of graphene structure
compared to the state of the art, like miniaturizing circuit, nonreciprocal plasmonic properties and reconfiguration capability. Thus,
new wireless networks at these frequencies are considered as one of the vital issues to reach higher throughput rates and hoped to
transform conventional devices by overcoming past limitations. The use of graphene structures would play an important role in this
technology [1–11].
The single and multiple graphene layers are possibly made by some approaches like epitaxy growth in ultrahigh vacuum, at-
mospheric pressure graphitization of SiC, chemical oxidation of and chemical vapour deposition [12–20].
Graphene is counted as a surface conductivity σg(ω, τ, μc, T) which supports surface plasmon polariton at the interface between
graphene and substrate. Complex surface conductivity is a multi-parameter functional to tune the designed resonant frequency. These
parameters are introduced as temperature T, chemical potential μc (depending on bias voltage through an oxide gate, carrier density
and chemical doping), relaxation time τ and radian frequency ω. EM wave properties of graphene can be modified by dynamically
tuning surface conductivity of graphene over a wide range. Thus, the graphene conductivity tunability has been widely utilized for
reconfigurable integrated devices in the terahertz and optical regime [21–23].
Confined EM waves are counted as a surface plasmon polariton waves at the interface between noble metals and the substrate. A
choice priority of graphene rather than noble metals at the mid-infrared and THz frequency range is more confinement, mechanical
strength, low losses and tunable complex conductivity thanks to function of graphene surface conductivity. In visible and near
infrared frequency range (several hundreds of THz), surface plasmon polariton wave propagation is supported by noble metals in

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: seyed.arash.n@aut.ac.ir (S.A. Naghdehforooshha), ghmoradi@aut.ac.ir (G. Moradi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2019.163365
Received 7 June 2019; Accepted 3 September 2019
0030-4026/ © 2019 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
S.A. Naghdehforooshha and G. Moradi Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 200 (2020) 163365

Fig. 1. A freestanding graphene layer lying in xz plane. The propagation is in z-direction and the structure in x-direction is uniform.

Fig. 2. Graphene-PEC structure.

Fig. 3. The normal electric fields (in V/m) of (a) single layer and (b) 10-layer graphene.

Fig. 4. The electric field of graphene-PEC structure at the edge (a) x-component, (b) y-component and (c) z-component.

Fig. 5. The electric field of graphene-PEC structure at the middle of the structure (a) x-component, (b) y-component and (c) z-component.

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S.A. Naghdehforooshha and G. Moradi Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 200 (2020) 163365

Fig. 6. The normal fields of multi-layer graphene-PEC structure, (a) the electric field (V/m) with electric field direction in xy-plane (Ex and Ey
together) and (b) the magnetic field (A/m) with magnetic field direction in xy-plane (Hx and Hy together).

Fig. 7. Numerical comparison of effective refractive index of the guided mode of two structures; graphene-PEC and PEC-PEC.

plasmonic devices cause of large negative real and small imaginary permittivity part. However, graphene can support SPP wave
propagation at much lower frequency especially in low THz frequency region [24,25].
This paper investigates and analyzes the single and multi-layer graphene electromagnetic wave propagation in THz frequency
band which is placed as a freestanding graphene sheet at air and surrounded by PEC-air. In section II, the graphene characteristics
and mode analysis are studied. Next section, the graphene-PEC structure is introduced. In section IV, the simulation mode analysis
results are provided. It is founded that the proposed structure support quasi-TEM mode.

2. Graphene characteristics

Complex graphene conductivity is introduced by Kubo formula which is presented in paper [21]. This conductivity is divided into
two parts, intraband and interband terms. At low THz frequency range, the intraband contribution σintra is dominant which depends
on free carrier conductivity. The interband contribution corresponds to generate and recombination electron-hole pair [21,22].
σg (ω, μc , Γ , T ) = σintra + σinter (1)
Furthermore, the intraband contribution can be introduced as

ie 2kB T ⎡ μc + 2 ln (e−μc / kB T + 1) ⎤
σintraband =
π ℏ2 (ω ⎢ kB T
+ i2Γ ) ⎣ ⎥
⎦ (2)
The interband contribution can be calculated for KB T ≪ |μc |, ћω

ie 2 2|μ | − (ω + i2Γ )ℏ ⎤
σinterband ≈ ln ⎡ c
4π ℏ ⎢ ⎥
⎣ 2|μc | + (ω + i2Γ )ℏ ⎦ (3)

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S.A. Naghdehforooshha and G. Moradi Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 200 (2020) 163365

where kB and ћ=h/2π are Boltzmann’s and the reduced Planck’s constant respectively. The imaginary part of conductivity is counted
as an important function in surface waves propagation. The edge effects of lateral size larger than 100 nm of graphene conductivity
can be neglected [26].
It can be shown that the dispersion relation for TM and TE modes are as following: [21],
2
2 ⎞
kρTM = 1 − ⎛⎜ ⎟
⎝ η0 ⎠
σg (4)

σg η0 2
kρTE = 1−⎛ ⎞
⎝ 2 ⎠ (5)

where k0 and η0 are the wave number and intrinsic impedance of free space, respectively. It is found that the propagation mode of
graphene is TM based on Eqs. (4) and (5). At low THz frequency range, the intraband contribution σintra is dominant and the
imaginary part of σintra is positive. Therefore, the real part of kρ™ is positive. Surface plasmon polariton TM modes only exist which
the imaginary part of the graphene conductivity is positive.

3. Graphene-PEC structure

The structure has a PEC ground plane and graphene sheet separated by SiO2 substrate as shown in Fig. 2. The graphene sheet is
surrounded by air on top of graphene with dielectric constant εr1 = 1 and SiO2 substrate with εr2 = 3.9. The single-layer graphene
thickness is about 0.34 nm. It is noted that thickness of dielectric substrate should be much less than the λSPP.

4. Simulation and discussion

4.1. Simulation results

COMSOL which is a full wave EM simulator is used to achieve verification purpose. Due to frequency domain study, COMSOL
simulator is capable to solve any structure. The classical method is not recommended to study graphene structures due to small lateral
size and meshing dimensions. Surface current density is used for mode analysis to decrease run time. The electric field of single and
multi-layer graphene-PEC structure is shown in Fig. 3. It is found that by increasing the layers, the electric field confinement is
decreasing.
As seen in Figs. 4 and 5, the results of TM mode can be approximated as transverse EM (TEM) mode because the electric field z-
component is much smaller than the transvers components (more than ten times). Thus, the guided wave proposes to solve graphene-
PEC structure by classical approach with the quasi-TEM consideration.
The electric and magnetic field directions are shown in Fig. 6 which verifies the quasi-TEM mode. The arrows introduce the 2D
EM field directions in xy plane for proposed structure. It is found that transmission line model can be utilized for graphene-PEC
structures which support a quasi-TEM mode. As seen in Fig. 7, effective refractive index comparison of the guided mode of two
structures; graphene-PEC and PEC-PEC. It is found that the two structures have the same neff.

4.2. Discussions

A freestanding graphene layer lying in xz plane as shown in Fig. 1. The propagation is in z-direction and the structure in x-
direction is uniform. The dispersion mode equations were introduced in Eqs. (4) and (5). It would show the propagating mode is
transvers magnetic. TE mode cannot propagate along the z-direction due to Eq. (5). Therefore, graphene support TM mode. The
proposed graphene-PEC structure was shown in Fig. 2. Multi-layer graphene will decrease the confinement of EM wave at the edge of
graphene. It is founded that multi-layer graphene is suitable for antenna applications and single layer graphene is more applicable for
wave guided structures such as filters, phase shifters, etc. to achieve the verification aim, the electric fields of graphene-PEC con-
figuration are shown at Cartesian components in Figs. 4 and 5. It has shown the direction component is much smaller than transvers
components. Thus, the proposed structure supports quasi-TEM mode. For better vision, Fig. 6 is introduces the 2D electric and
magnetic field directions. The analysis arrows show the graphene-PEC structure is exactly like a parallel PEC plates. It means the
classical approaches at microwave frequency band are still true at the THz frequency band. Effective refractive index comparison of
the guided mode of two structures, graphene-PEC and PEC-PEC, are shown in Fig. 7. It is found that these two structures have the
same wave propagation mode. The classical theory can be applied to graphene-PEC structure which is an analytical solution of wave
propagation with a plasmonic mode difference. The plasmonic mode can be controlled by graphene layers for desired application.
Therefore, the characteristic impedance of the graphene-PEC configuration can be calculated like classical approach by
Z0
Zc =
neff (6)

where Z0 and neff are the air characteristic impedance and effective refractive index of the guided mode of plasmonic graphene-PEC
waveguide that is calculated by COMSOL simulator.

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S.A. Naghdehforooshha and G. Moradi Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 200 (2020) 163365

5. Conclusion

In this paper, a graphene-PEC configuration has been presented. Graphene and its behaviour were investigated at the THz region
for both freestanding graphene sheet and graphene-PEC structure. It has been shown that the proposed structure supports the quasi-
TEM mode. Therefore, the classical theory can be applied to graphene-PEC structure which is an analytical solution of wave pro-
pagation which means the classical approaches at microwave frequency band are still true at the THz frequency band. This
achievement can be helpful in simplifying the analysis of structures based on graphene-PEC in the terahertz band.

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