Analysis and Simulation of Plasmons on Graphene with Time- and Space-Dependent Drude Weight

Abstract. We study the propagation of plasmons on graphene. The problem is considered in two dimensions with a transverse magnetic (TM) electromagnetic field. The graphene material is assumed to be flat and is modeled as a conductive sheet. This leads to a jump condition for the magnetic field on the sheet, where it is related to the current density on the sheet. The current density itself satisfies Drude’s law. The model then consists of Maxwell’s equations coupled with current density on the sheet. To make the problem more computationally approachable, we develop a partial integrodifferential equation for the current density. This effectively reduces the problem to one space dimension. A finite difference method is proposed to solve the resulting equation. Numerical examples are given to illustrate previously unreported behavior of the system.