Active graphene plasmonics with a drift-current bias

Abstract: We theoretically demonstrate that a system formed by a drift-current biased graphene sheet on a silicon carbide substrate enables loss compensation and plasmon amplification. The active response of the graphene sheet is rooted in the optical pumping of the graphene plasmons with the gain provided by the streaming current carriers. The proposed system behaves as an optical amplifier for the plasmons co-propagating with the drifting electrons and as a strong attenuator for the counter-propagating plasmons. Furthermore, we show that the feedback obtained by connecting the input and output of the system, e.g., as a ring-shaped graphene - silicon carbide nanoresonator, combined with the optical gain provided by the drifting electrons, may lead to spasing.