Search

Recent progress in experimental techniques has made the quantum regime in plasmonics accessible. Since plasmons correspond to collective electron excitations, the electron-electron interaction plays an essential role in their theoretical description. Within the Random Phase Approximation, this interaction is incorporated through a system of equations of motion, which has to be solved self-consistently. For homogeneous media, an analytical solution can be found using the Fourier transform, giving rise to Lindhard theory. When the medium is spatially inhomogeneous, this is no longer possible and one often uses numerical approaches, which are however limited to smaller systems. In this paper, we present a novel semi-analytical approach for bulk plasmons in inhomogeneous media based on the semiclassical (or WKB) approximation, which is applicable when the charge density varies smoothly. By solving the equations of motion self-consistently, we obtain the expressions of Lindhard theory with a spatially varying Fermi wavevector. The derivation involves passing from the operators to their symbols, which can be thought of as classical observables on phase space. In this way we obtain effective (Hamiltonian) equations of motion for plasmons. We then find the quantized energy levels and the plasmon spectrum using Einstein-Brilllouin-Keller quantization. Our results provide a theoretical basis to describe different setups in quantum plasmonics, such as nanoparticles, quantum dots and waveguides., 97 pages, 21 figures

Contains fulltext : 111427.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)

We review chiral (Klein) tunneling in single-layer and bilayer graphene and present its semiclassical theory, including the Berry phase and the Maslov index. Peculiarities of the chiral tunneling are naturally explained in terms of classical phase space. In a one-dimensional geometry we reduced the original Dirac equation, describing the dynamics of charge carriers in the single layer graphene, to an effective Schr\"odinger equation with a complex potential. This allowed us to study tunneling in details and obtain analytic formulas. Our predictions are compared with numerical results. We have also demonstrated that, for the case of asymmetric n-p-n junction in single layer graphene, there is total transmission for normal incidence only, side resonances are suppressed., Comment: submitted to Proceedings of Nobel Symposium on graphene, May 2010

We study an interaction of 2D quasiparticles with linear dispersion (graphene) with impurity potentials. It is shown that in 1D potential well (quantum wire) there are discrete levels, corresponding to localized states, whereas in 2D well (quantum dot) there are no such states. Scattering cross-section of electrons (holes) of graphene by an axially symmetric potential well is found and it is shown that for infinetily large energy of incoming particles the cross-section tends to a constant. The effective Hamiltonian for a curved quantum wire of graphene is derived and it is shown that the corresponding geometric potential cannot form 1D bound states., Comment: 2 figures. The paper was sent to JETP Letters. Reasons for replacing previous versions: added references [4-6], corrected typos