Extra Level Helps Convert Light Energy into Surface Waves on Graphene with Increased Efficiency

Collaborating physicists from two Russian universities have successfully converted light energy into surface waves on graphene at nearly 90% efficiency. A so-called laser-like energy conversion process with collective resonances, and semiconductor quantum dots acting as intermediary converters are central to the plasmonics demonstration. Intermediary signal converters — nano-objects of varying chemical compositions and physical geometries — are used to heighten the efficiency (otherwise in the range of approximately 10%) of processes that convert light to surface plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) on 2D surfaces. The quantum dots in the research, which was led by scientists from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)...