Surface plasmons of a graphene parallel plate waveguide bounded by Kerr-type nonlinear media

The exact dispersion relations of the transverse magnetic surface plasmons (SPs) supported by a graphene parallel plate waveguide (PPWG), surrounded on one or both sides by Kerr-type nonlinear media, are obtained analytically. It is shown that if self-focusing nonlinear materials are chosen as the surrounding media, the SPs localization length (LL) is decreased, while their propagation length (PL) remains unchanged, as compared to those of a typical graphene PPWG. Moreover, PL and LL of the SPs are considerably affected by adjusting nonlinear parts of the dielectric permittivities of the nonlinear media. It is found that using an appropriate defocusing nonlinear material as a substrate of the graphene PPWG, which is surrounded on one side by the nonlinear medium, leads to noticeable enhancement of the propagation and localization characteristics of the surface plasmons. The results presented here can be useful for enhancing capabilities of plasmonic devices based on the graphene PPWG for sensing and waveguide applications. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.