Electromagnetic Wave Scattering in Graphene-Based Structures

Graphene’s remarkable electrical conductivity and atomic thinness have propelled it to the forefront of research into electromagnetic wave scattering. When electromagnetic waves impinge on graphene or graphene‐covered structures, they excite collective electron oscillations—surface plasmons—that can be manipulated by tuning the material’s chemical potential. This tunability enables dynamic control over resonance frequencies, scattering cross sections and field localisation, often at subwavelength scales. Architectures ranging from single graphene sheets and ribbon arrays to multilayer gratings and conformal coatings on dielectric lenses exhibit a rich interplay between plasmonic, lattice and slab modes. These interactions can enhance absorption, redirect incident energy into focused hotspots or create frequency‐selective filters. Advances in analytical and numerical methods have improved the accuracy and convergence of scattering calculations, supporting the design of high-performance sensors, tunable metasurfaces and compact terahertz components. The global significance of this work lies in potential applications for biosensing, imaging, wireless communications and ultrafast photonic circuits, where control of light–matter interaction at the nanoscale is essential.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated gate-controlled graphene ribbon arrays as highly sensitive evanescent-wave biosensors. By dynamically tuning the graphene chemical potential via an external bias, researchers achieve substantial shifts in surface plasmon resonance curves without mechanical scanning, yielding figures of merit in excess of 20 per refractive-index unit. The approach exploits non-uniform local field enhancement in subwavelength ribbons to detect minute changes in protein monolayers. Another development introduces an edge-condition-aware expansion for one-dimensional graphene gratings illuminated by TM-polarised waves. Local basis functions satisfying the exact edge behaviour dramatically accelerate convergence compared with conventional Fourier-modal methods and eliminate spurious oscillations at strip boundaries. This method underpins reliable prediction of lattice-mode resonances in periodic graphene arrays.

Electromagnetic Wave Scattering in Graphene-Based Structures publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in electromagnetic wave scattering in graphene-based structures across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR): Collective oscillation of charge carriers at the interface between graphene and a dielectric, strongly coupling to incident electromagnetic fields.

Chemical potential: Fermi level position in graphene, adjustable via gating, which directly influences its surface conductivity and plasmonic response.

Lattice resonance: Enhanced scattering or absorption arising from coherent interactions within a periodic array, leading to narrow, high-Q spectral features.

Metasurface: Engineered two-dimensional assembly of subwavelength elements, such as graphene strips or ribbons, designed to manipulate wavefronts and resonance characteristics.

References

1. A theoretical design of evanescent wave biosensors based on gate-controlled graphene surface plasmon resonance. Scientific Reports (2021).
2. Highly improved convergence approach incorporating edge conditions for scattering analysis of graphene gratings. Scientific Reports (2020).
3. Nyström-Type Technique for Electromagnetic Wave Scattering in Inhomogeneous Material, Plasma and Metamaterial Slabs. IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation (2023).
4. Tunable enhancement of the cylindrical Luneburg lens focusing ability with the aid of a conformal graphene strip.. Optics Express (2024).
5. Electromagnetic Wave Scattering by a Multiple Core Model of Composite Cylindrical Wires at Oblique Incidence. Applied Sciences (2022).