Acoustic graphene plasmons are highly confined electromagnetic modes carrying large momentum and low loss in the mid-infrared and terahertz spectra. However, until now they have been restricted to micrometer-scale areas, reducing their confinement potential by several orders of magnitude. Using a graphene-based magnetic resonator, we realized single, nanometer-scale acoustic graphene plasmon cavities, reaching mode volume confinement factors of ~5 × 10–10. Such a cavity acts as a mid-infrared nanoantenna, which is efficiently excited from the far field and is electrically tunable over an extremely large broadband spectrum. Our approach provides a platform for studying ultrastrong-coupling phenomena, such as chemical manipulation via vibrational strong coupling, as well as a path to efficient detectors and sensors operating in this long-wavelength spectral range.

Integrating and manipulating the nano-optoelectronic properties of Van der Waals heterostructures can enable unprecedented platforms for photodetection and sensing. The main challenge of infrared photodetectors is to funnel the light into a small nanoscale active area and efficiently convert it into an electrical signal. Here, we overcome all of those challenges in one device, by efficient coupling of a plasmonic antenna to hyperbolic phonon-polaritons in hexagonal-BN to highly concentrate mid-infrared light into a graphene pn-junction. We balance the interplay of the absorption, electrical and thermal conductivity of graphene via the device geometry. This approach yields remarkable device performance featuring room temperature high sensitivity (NEP of 82 pW$$/\sqrt{{\bf{Hz}}}$$ / Hz ) and fast rise time of 17 nanoseconds (setup-limited), among others, hence achieving a combination currently not present in the state-of-the-art graphene and commercial mid-infrared detectors. We also develop a multiphysics model that shows very good quantitative agreement with our experimental results and reveals the different contributions to our photoresponse, thus paving the way for further improvement of these types of photodetectors even beyond mid-infrared range.

Acoustic-graphene-plasmons (AGPs) are highly confined electromagnetic modes, which carry extreme momentum and low loss in the Mid-infrared (MIR) to Terahertz (THz) spectra. They are therefore enablers of extremely strong light-matter interactions at these long wavelengths. However, owing to their large momentum they are also challenging to excite and detect. Here, we demonstrate a new way to excite AGPs that are confined to nanometric-scale cavities directly from the far-field, via localized graphene-plasmon-magnetic-resonators (GPMRs). This approach enables the efficient excitation of single AGP cavities, which are able to confine MIR light to record-breaking ultra-small mode-volumes, which are over a billion times smaller than their free-space volume.

Excitons in monolayer transition-metal-dichalcogenides dominate their optical response, however, the achieved light-exciton interaction strength have been far below unity, and a complete picture of its underlying physics and fundamental limits has not been provided. Using a van der Waals heterostructure cavity, we demonstrate near-unity excitonic absorption, together with efficient emission at ultra-low excitation powers. We find that the interplay between the radiative, non-radiative and dephasing decay rates plays a crucial role in this interaction, and unveil a universal absorption law for excitons in 2D systems.

Acoustic-graphene-plasmons (AGPs) are highly confined electromagnetic modes, which carry extreme momentum and low loss in the Mid-infrared (MIR) to Terahertz (THz) spectra. They are therefore enablers of extremely strong light-matter interactions at these long wavelengths. However, owing to their large momentum they are also challenging to excite and detect. Here, we demonstrate a new way to excite AGPs that are confined to nanometric-scale cavities directly from the far-field, via localized graphene-plasmon-magnetic-resonators (GPMRs). This approach enables the efficient excitation of single AGP cavities, which are able to confine MIR light to record-breaking ultra-small mode-volumes, which are over a billion times smaller than their free-space volume.