Discrete plasmonic Talbot effect in single-mode graphene ribbon arrays

Controllable manipulation of surface plasmon polaritons in discrete waveguide arrays is critical in plasmonic applications. In this paper, exploiting the coupled-mode theory with the tight-binding approximation, the discrete plasmonic Talbot effect in the weak coupled single-mode graphene ribbon arrays is investigated. The Talbot distance can be flexible, modulated by the changing parameters (i.e., the carrier doping or array periods) of the graphene ribbon arrays, and the significant subwavelength Talbot distances (lambda/13) are obtained. In the configuration, the coupled-mode theory with the tight-binding approximation is proved intensely efficient to describe the propagation of surface plasmon supermodes. Thus, our analysis can open a new avenue for developing graphene-based imaging devices and pave a way for their potential applications. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America