Photo-modulation is a promising strategy for contactless and ultrafast control of optical and electrical properties of photoactive materials. Graphene is an attractive candidate material for photo-modulation due to its extraordinary physical properties and its relevance to a wide range of devices, from photodetectors to energy converters. In this review, we survey different strategies for photo-modulation of electrical and optical properties of graphene, including photogating, generation of hot carriers, and thermo-optical effects. We briefly discuss the role of nanophotonic strategies to maximize these effects and highlight promising fields for application of these techniques.
