Probing plasmons in graphene by resonance energy transfer

We theoretically propose an experimental method to probe electronic excitations in graphene-a monoatomic layer of carbon-by monitoring the fluorescence quenching of a semiconductor quantum dot (or a dye molecule) due to the resonance energy transfer to the graphene sheet. We show how the dispersion relation of plasmons in graphene can be accurately extracted by varying the back-gate voltage and the distance between the quantum dot and graphene.