Graphene plasmon devices take on quality and scale

Graphene plasmonics has been caught between a rock and a hard place, with high-energy plasmons readily coupling into hybrid modes, while low-energy plasmons are prone to damping. Now researchers in Japan, Germany and Singapore report in the first issue of Journal of Physics: Materials how they can protect low-energy plasmons from damping by encapsulating the graphene in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). What is more, in the same issue another group of researchers demonstrate a transfer-free process that could enable mass-production of high-quality hBN-encapsulated graphene devices.