Room-Temperature Amplification of Terahertz Radiation by Grating-Gate Graphene Structures

We study terahertz (THz) radiation transmission through grating-gate graphene-based nanostructures. We report on roomerature THz radiation amplification stimulated by current-driven plasmon excitation. Specifically, with an increase of the dc current under periodic charge density modulation, we observe a strong redshift of the resonant THz plasmon absorption, followed by a window of complete transparency to incoming radiation and subsequent amplification and blueshift of the resonant plasmon frequency. Our results are, to the best of our knowledge, the first experimental observation of energy transfer from dc current to plasmons leading to THz amplification. Additionally, we present a simple model offering a phenomenological description of the observed THz amplification. This model shows that in the presence of a dc current the radiation-induced correction to dissipation is sensitive to the phase shift between oscillations of carrier density and drift velocity. And, with an increasing current, the dissipation becomes negative, leading to amplification. The experimental results of this work, as all obtained at roomerature, pave the way toward the new 2D plasmon-based, voltage-tunable THz radiation amplifiers.