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Electromagnetic Saturation of Angstrom-Sized Quantum Barriers at Terahertz Frequencies

Young-Mi Bahk, Bong Joo Kang, Yong Seung Kim, Joon-Yeon Kim, Won Tae Kim, Tae Yun Kim, Taehee Kang, Jiyeah Rhie, Sanghoon Han, Cheol-Hwan Park, Fabian Rotermund, and Dai-Sik Kim
Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 125501 – Published 16 September 2015
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Abstract

Metal-graphene-metal hybrid structures allow angstrom-scale van der Waals gaps, across which electron tunneling occurs. We squeeze terahertz electromagnetic waves through these λ/10000000 gaps, accompanied by giant field enhancements. Unprecedented transmission reduction of 97% is achieved with the transient voltage across the gap saturating at 5 V. Electron tunneling facilitated by the transient electric field strongly modifies the gap index, starting a self-limiting process related to the barrier height. Our work enables greater interplay between classical optics and quantum tunneling, and provides optical indices to the van der Waals gaps.

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  • Received 26 March 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.125501

© 2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Young-Mi Bahk1, Bong Joo Kang2, Yong Seung Kim3, Joon-Yeon Kim1, Won Tae Kim2, Tae Yun Kim4, Taehee Kang1, Jiyeah Rhie1, Sanghoon Han5, Cheol-Hwan Park4, Fabian Rotermund2,*, and Dai-Sik Kim1,†

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Atomic Scale Electromagnetism, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747, Korea
  • 2Department of Energy Systems Research and Department of Physics, Ajou University, Suwon 443-749, Korea
  • 3Graphene Research Institute and Department of Physics, Sejong University, Seoul 143-747, Korea
  • 4Department of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Theoretical Physics, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747, Korea
  • 5Photonic Systems Laboratory, School of EECS, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea

  • *rotermun@ajou.ac.kr
  • dsk@phya.snu.ac.kr

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Issue

Vol. 115, Iss. 12 — 18 September 2015

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