Nanofocusing of acoustic graphene plasmon polaritons for enhancing mid-infrared molecular fingerprints

Abstract

Mid-infrared (mid-IR) optical spectroscopy of molecules is of large interest in physics, chemistry, and biology. However, probing nanometric volumes of molecules is challenging because of the strong mismatch of their mid-infrared absorption and scattering cross-sections with the free-space wavelength. We suggest overcoming this difficulty by nanofocusing acoustic graphene plasmon polaritons (AGPs) - oscillations of Dirac charge carriers coupled to electromagnetic fields with extremely small wavelengths - using a taper formed by a graphene sheet above a metallic surface. We demonstrate that due to the appreciable field enhancement and mode volume reduction, the nanofocused AGPs can efficiently sense molecular fingerprints in nanometric volumes. We illustrate a possible realistic sensing scenario based on AGP interferometry performed with a near-field microscope. Our results can open new avenues for designing tiny sensors based on graphene and other 2D polaritonic materials.