[Nature Photonics ]A comparison of graphene, superconductors and metals as conductors for metamaterials and plasmonics

篇名

A comparison of graphene, superconductors and metals as conductors for metamaterials and plasmonics

刊名

Nature Photonics

作者

Philippe Tassin, Thomas Koschny, Maria Kafesaki and Costas M. Soukoulis

DOI

DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2012.27

日期

2012-3-4

摘要

Recent advancements in metamaterials and plasmonics have promised a number of exciting applications, in particular at terahertz and optical frequencies. Unfortunately, the noble metals used in these photonic structures are not particularly good conductors at high frequencies, resulting in significant dissipative loss. Here, we address the question of what is a good conductor for metamaterials and plasmonics. For resonant metamaterials, we develop a figure-of-merit for conductors that allows for a straightforward classification of conducting materials according to the resulting dissipative loss in the metamaterial. Application of our method predicts that graphene and high-T_c superconductors are not viable

alternatives for metals in metamaterials. We also provide an overview of a number of transition metals, alkali metals and

transparent conducting oxides. For plasmonic systems, we predict that graphene and high-T_c superconductors cannot

outperform gold as a platform for surface plasmon polaritons, because graphene has a smaller propagation length-to-wavelength ratio.

供稿

龚翰墨