Tunable optical bistability in graphene Tamm plasmon/Bragg reflector hybrid structure at terahertz frequencies

Abstract

Tunable optical bistability (OB) plays an active role in the manipulation of optical switches. Here, by combining graphene with one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D PC) with a defect layer, we theoretically design a simple multilayer structure to manipulate OB. Through the coupling of Tamm plasmon (TP) and defect mode (DM), an induced narrow peak can be generated in the original wide reflection angle, so it presents a richer situation of OB. The theoretical results show that the OB can be adjusted by optimizing the Fermi energy, the number of graphene layers. In addition, the effects of incident angle, the thickness of defect layer, and other structural parameters on OB are also clarified. We believe the above results can provide a new paradigm for the construction of controllable bistable devices.

Keywords

• Optical bistability
• Graphene
• Tamm plasmon
• Defect mode