Research Topic

Surface plasmons are collective oscillations of free charges at the interface of two materials. Due to its 2D nature, graphene presents unique electronic and plasmonic properties. This project aims at the control of carriers and plasmons by exploring the modulation of the charge density by a SAW. Potential applications of the results include acoustically driven plasmon launchers and electron pumps.

Goals

The SAW strain field will be used as a dynamic grating to couple light to propagating plasmons in graphene without the need for patterning. The propagating plasmons will be first assessed optically, and then electrically, using the modulation of the response of nanoelectronic devices. Secondly, the SAW piezoelectric field will be used to induce a current in graphene. Tailoring adequate bilayer-graphene nanostructures may lead to single-electron (or -hole) SAW pumps.

Fellow

Rajveer Fandan

Host: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) – Institute of Optoelectronic Systems and Microtechnology

Scientific Background

I graduated in Electrical Engineering and post-graduated in Material Science from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB). During post-graduation, my main research area was semiconductor epitaxy and characterization. In particular, I investigated Ge and GeSn photodetectors, Sn-based non-volatile flash memory and III-nitride nanowires.