Effects of a modulated electric field on the optical absorption spectra in a single-layer graphene.

The optical absorption spectra of a graphene monolayer in the presence of a modulated electric field are investigated by the gradient approximation with tight-binding model. Such a field could strongly affect the low-energy electronic and optical properties. The low-energy bands exhibit two kinds of band-edge states (micro and upsilon), which lead to many prominent asymmetric peaks in the density of states (DOS). The finite DOS at omega = 0 implies that a single layer graphene in the presence of modulated electric fields would become a semimetallic one. The low-frequency optical absorption spectra display rich peaks and they vanish at omega = 0. Such absorption peaks mainly result from the two kinds of band-edge states and could be divided into two groups. However, they could not be ascribed to an obvious selection rule. It is worth noting that the optical absorption spectra could show anisotropic features in different modulated directions. The predicted results could be verified by the experimental measurements.

Observation of localized surface plasmons in spatially controlled array structures.

We observed the reflectance spectra of three different nano-scale array structures of Au-coated silicon nanorods. The trends of the reflectance spectra indicate that the localized surface plasmon modes can be spatially controlled by manipulating geometric parameters, namely the lattice constants of the array. In addition, the experimental results were compared with 2D numerical simulations based on the finite element method. Satisfactory agreement between the experimental observations and numerical results was obtained.

Spontaneous emission of quantum dot excitons into surface plasmons in a nanowire.

The spontaneous emission (SE) of quantum dot (QD) excitons into surface plasmons in a cylindrical nanowire is investigated theoretically. Maxwell's equations with appropriate boundary conditions are solved numerically to obtain the dispersion relations of surface plasmons. The SE rate of QD excitons is found to be greatly enhanced at certain values of the exciton bandgap. Application in generation of remote entangled states via superradiance is also pointed out and may be observable with current technology.