Materials Today Communications xxx (xxxx) xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Materials Today Communications

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mtcomm

A novel graphene based tunable semiconductor metamaterial: A

mathematical analysis
Md Tarikul Islam a, Ayed Al Sayem b, Mohammad Istiaque Reja a, c, d, *
a
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, Chittagong 4349, Bangladesh
b
Department of Electrical Engineering, Yale University, USA
c
Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) and School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
d
ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T .

Keywords: In this article we have proposed a novel graphene based tunable semiconductor metamaterial which can be
Semiconductor metamaterial effectively tuned in the long wavelength infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum by only changing the
Graphene chemical potential of graphene via a gate voltage without needing to vary the doping concentration of semi­
Chemical potential
conductor. The previously reported semiconductor metamaterial constructed from doped InGaAs and intrinsic
Tunable
AlInAs layers shows all angle negative refraction Hoffman et al.. However, it cannot be tuned without changing
the doping concentration of semiconductor and changing doping concentration makes the material lossy. Since
Graphene possesses tunable surface conductivity which can be tuned effectively by changing the chemical po­
tential of graphene, we have proposed a novel structure where graphene sheet is inserted between the InGaAs
and AlInAs layers. Through rigorous mathematical analysis we have shown that by changing only the chemical
potential, without needing to modify the structural properties, it is possible to tune the spectral region of
permittivity where negative refraction occurs which in turns gives tunability to iso-frequency wave vector
dispersion, transmittance, reflectance and absorption coefficient. The proposed method would simplify the
tuning process of semiconductor metamaterials. This unique graphene based tunable semiconductor meta­
material would be an attractive feature in the rapid and continuously developing semiconductor industry.

1. Introduction response is dependent on overlapping resonance in ε and μ. This

Metamaterials are artificial materials composed of unit cells
designed in order to obtain a particular response to electromagnetic
waves. The electric and magnetic response achieved by metamaterials
derived from the geometry, shape, size and orientation of their unit cells
but not from their chemical composition. The introduction of meta­
materials has begun a new era of designing electromagnetic materials
and has developed novel response such as negative refraction [2], per­
fect absorption [3,4], abnormal reflection [5], cloaking [6–8], and
superlensing [9].
Recently there has been a rising interest in semiconductor as the
building block of metamaterial (MM) and plasmonic devices due to the
ease of controlling its properties effectively [10]. The plasmonic prop­
erties of semiconductors are suitable for metamaterial applications at
near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths. The typical metamaterial
double-resonance scheme has some limitations, for example, the design
and fabrication processes are complicated and the nature of resonance
may create high loss. Unlike conventional metamaterial, semiconductor
metamaterial response depends on only a single resonance. So they are
easy to fabricate and the loss is reduced.
The semiconductor metamaterial having negative refraction at mid
infrared (more specifically at long wave length infrared) range is re­
ported to use doped InGaAs and intrinsic AlInAs [1]; silicon carbide is
also suitable for metamaterial application in mid infrared wavelengths
[11]. To realize metamaterial at near infrared range heavily doped
transparent conducting oxides such as indium tin oxide,
aluminium-doped zinc-oxide (AZO) or gallium-doped zinc-oxide (GZO)
are used [12–15].
The usefulness of semiconductor based metamaterial devices could
be improved significantly if the material’s electromagnetic

* Corresponding author at: Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) and School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005,
Australia.
E-mail address: mohammadistiaque.reja@adelaide.edu.au (M.I. Reja).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2020.101840
Received 28 July 2020; Received in revised form 8 October 2020; Accepted 19 October 2020
Available online 4 November 2020
2352-4928/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Md Tarikul Islam, Materials Today Communications, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2020.101840
M.T. Islam et al. Materials Today Communications xxx (xxxx) xxx

[58–61]. So every single layer graphene can be modelled as a conducting

sheet with conductivity as given in Eq. (2)

je2 μ
σg = ( ( )) (2)
πħ2 ω + τj

Where, e is the charge of electron, μ is the chemical potential of graphene

and τ is the electron relaxation time. Here we have considered few-layer
graphene with a total thickness of 1 nm. The tangential permittivity of
few-layer graphene is similar to that of mono-layer graphene [62,63].
The perpendicular permittivity of few-layer graphene is a constant of
εz2 = 2.5 which is similar to that of graphite [63]. The relaxation time of
200 fs is chosen here, as considered for different graphene based pho­
tonic devices [64–67].
The permittivity of doped InGaAs layer is given by Drude model [1]
Fig. 1. The schematic diagram of the proposed structure. as-
⎡ ⎤
characteristics can be tuned. Tunable metamaterials can be achieved by ω2p ⎥
εInGaAs (ω) = ε∞InGaAs ⎢
⎣1 − jω⎦ (3)
adding several additional structures and media such as vanadium di­ ω −
2
γ
oxide [16–18], magnetic microwires [19], superconductors [20], ca­
pacitors [21,22], liquid crystals [23–32], varactors [33,34], MEMS [35], Where, ε∞InGaAs = 12.15, ωp represent the plasma frequency and γ = 0.1
ferrites [36–39]. Besides water based thermally tunable metamaterial * 10-12 s-1 is the damping parameter. The permittivity of AlInAs is 10.23
[40,41], tunable chain-link metamaterial [42], tunable quantum inter­ [1].
face device (SQID) metamaterial [43], have also been developed. In this As mentioned earlier, in our proposed Graphene-Semiconductor
article we have used graphene sheet as a tunable material. Graphene is structure InGaAs-Graphene-AlInAs-Graphene constitutes a unit cell
suitable for designing tunable devices because of its tunable sheet con­ and the whole metamaterial consists of repetition of this cell. To
ductivity which depends strongly on the chemical potential. Besides determine the effective permittivity tensor of this media we have
graphene has some excellent properties such as flexibility, optical applied effective medium theory (EMT).
transparency, high electron mobility [44,45], and third order optical The Bloch equation (dispersion relation) for TEM mode with the
nonlinearities [46]. Due to these properties graphene is extensively used wave is TM polarized has been derived as,
in electronic and photonic devices. Recently many photonic devices
have been developed based on graphene such as polarizer [47], modu­ cos(kz d) = cos(kz1 d1 )cos(2kz2 d2 )cos(kz3 d3 ) −
1
si n(kz1 d1 )sin(2kz2 d2 )cos(kz3 d3 )
lators [48,49], waveguides [50,51], photodetectors [52], and frequency 2
multipliers [53]. (
εx1 kz2 εx2 kz1
)
1
(
εx1 kz3 εx3 kz1
)
In our proposed Graphene based tunable semiconductor meta­ + − sin(kz1 d1 )cos2 (kz2 d2 )sin(kz3 d3 ) +
kz1 εx2 kz2 εx1 2 kz1 εx3 kz3 εx1
material we have inserted few layer graphene between InGaAs and ( )
AlInAs layers, where each unit cell consists of InGaAs-Graphene-AlInAs- 1
− cos(kz1 d1 )sin(2kz2 d2 )sin(kz3 d3 )
εx2 kz3 εx3 kz2
+
1
+ sin(kz1 d1 )sin2 (kz2 d2 )
Graphene layers and the repetition of this unit cell made up the complete 2 kz2 εx3 kz3 εx2 2
metamaterial as shown in Fig. 1. InGaAs and AlInAs layers can be grown ( )
εx1 k2z2 εx3 kz1 ε2x2 kz3
by molecular beam epitaxy on InP substrate [1]. Here in our proposed sin(kz3 d3 ) +
structure, few layer graphene will be inserted between InGaAs and kz1 ε2x2 kz3 εx1 k2z2 εx3
AlInAs. The graphene can be integrated three dimensionally between (4)
InGaAs and AlInAs by means of swelling, shrinking and adaptation
(cf. Detailed calculation is given in ‘supplementary information’)
method [54].
Here, εx1 = εInGaAs (ω); εx2 = εg ; εx3 = εAlInAs = ε∞AlInAs = 10.23.
Here d1 is the thickness of InGaAs, d2 is the thickness of graphene, d3
2. Theory
is the thickness of AlInAs. Therefore the total thickness of unit cell is
d = d1 + 2d2 + d3.
Graphene is characterized by its surface conductivity given by kubo
By expanding both side of Eq. (4) in Taylor series and using disper­
formalism [55,56]. The conductivity depends on chemical potential,
sion relation for each layer, effective permittivity tensor has been
relaxation time, temperature and frequency. Graphene is one of the al­
derived. The effective tangential and perpendicular permittivity are
lotropes of carbon having crystalline structure with two-dimensional
given by following equations-
properties. So graphene can be characterized as a uniaxial material
having optical anisotropy. The tangential permittivity of mono layer εx1 d1 + 2εx2 d2 + εx3 d3
ε‖ = (5)
graphene is given by Eq. (1). d
σg η0
εg = 1 + j (1) ε⊥ =
εx1 εz2 εx3 d
(6)
k0 tg εz2 εx3 d1 + 2εx1 εx3 d2 + εx1 εz2 d3
Where σ g is the sheet conductivity of graphene which depends on (cf. Detailed calculation is given in ‘supplementary information’)
chemical potential; η0 = 377 Ω is the intrinsic impedance of air; tg is the
effective thickness of monolayer graphene; and k0 = ω/c is the free 3. Simulation and results
space wave vector with c is the velocity of light in free space [57]. The
conductivity of graphene takes the form of Drude like behaviour due to Due to graphene’s 2D geometrical characteristics, it offers wide­
the dominance of intra-band absorption and low loss owing to Pauli spread control of its surface conductivity because of its gate-tunable
blocking of inter-band transition at long wavelength infrared range Fermi energy. Chemical potential of graphene can be changed by elec­
trical gating [68,69]. As seen from Eq. (1), through varying the chemical

2
M.T. Islam et al.
Fig. 2. Effective tangential and perpendicular permittivity versus wavelength,
tangential permittivity depends on chemical potential and is plotted for
different values (0.16 eV, 0.4 eV, 0.55 eV) of graphene’s chemical potential. By
changing chemical potential of graphene the zero crossing of tangential
permittivity can be controlled. So the spectral region of negative refraction can
be tuned.
Fig. 3. Zoomed-in view of effective perpendicular and tangential permittivity
for different values of graphene’s chemical potential (0.16 eV, 0.4 eV, 0.55 eV).
potential the surface conductivity of graphene can be changed, which in
turn will change the tangential permittivity of graphene. Therefore, the
effective tangential permittivity of the proposed structure can be effec­
tively tuned by varying chemical potential of graphene. Fig. 2 represents
the real part of the calculated effective tangential and perpendicular
permittivity with respect to wavelength for different values of graphe­
ne’s chemical potential. To achieve negative refraction, both the con­
ditions ε‖ > 0 and ε⊥ < 0 need to be satisfied [1]. By changing
chemical potential we can control the zero crossing (positive to negative
transition) of the effective tangential permittivity i.e. the long wave­
length limit of negative refraction, which in turn gives tunability to the
bandwidth of the spectral region that exhibits negative refraction. Fig. 3
shows a zoomed view of this tunability for different values of graphene’s
chemical potential. In Fig. 4, the spectral regions (exhibiting negative
refraction) for various values of chemical potential are highlighted. The
shaded yellow (Fig. 4a), green (Fig. 4b) and black region (Fig. 4c) rep­
resents the spectral regions of negative refraction for chemical potential
of 0.16 eV, 0.4 eV and 0.55 eV respectively. Fig. 5 demonstrates the
variation of effective tangential permittivity as a function of graphene’s
chemical potential at 10.3 μm wavelength. From Fig. 5, the required
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Materials Today Communications xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 4. (a) The yellow colored region is the region of negative refraction for
chemical potential 0.16 eV. (b) The green colored region is the region of
negative refraction for chemical potential 0.4 eV. (c) The black colored region is
the region of negative refraction for chemical potential 0.55 eV. [The higher the
graphene’s chemical potential, the smaller the tuning area]. (For interpretation
of the references to colour in the Figure, the reader is referred to the web
version of this article).
chemical potential to achieve negative refraction at a specific wave­
length can be known.
From Eq. (4),(5),(6) the wave vector along the direction of propa­
gating for this proposed structure is found to be as follows:
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
ε‖ 2
kz = ε‖ k20 − kx (7)
ε⊥
From Eq. (7) we can plot the iso frequency curves. From this equation
it is clear that we can tune the iso frequency curve by changing chemical
potential. Fig. 6 shows the iso frequency curve for different values of
chemical potential at wavelength λ = 10.3 μm. From dispersion curve it
is clear that the proposed Graphene-Semiconductor metamaterial shows
hyperbolic dispersion which is the indication of negative refraction.
Fig. 7 shows the absorption coefficient α = Im(kz) calculated by
effective medium theory with respect to wavelength. By changing
M.T. Islam et al.
Fig. 5. Real and Imaginary part of effective tangential permittivity versus
chemical potential of graphene at wavelength λ = 10.3 μm. From this plot, the
required chemical potential to achieve negative refraction at a specific wave­
length can be known.
Fig. 6. Iso-frequency dispersion characteristics of the proposed structure at
wavelength λ = 10.3 μm. The thickness of InGaAs, Graphene and AlInAs in the
unit cell are d1 = 80 nm, d2 = 1 nm and d3 = 80 nm respectively.
Fig. 7. Absorption coefficient for TM polarisation with respect to the wave­
length for different values of graphene’s chemical potential (0.25 eV,
0.35 eV, 0.45 eV).
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Materials Today Communications xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 8. Figure of Merit for TM polarisation with respect to the wavelength for
different values of graphene’s chemical potential (0.25 eV, 0.35 eV, 0.45 eV).
Fig. 9. Reflectance versus wavelength with 40◦ incident angle for different
values of graphene’s chemical potential (0.25 eV, 0.35 eV, 0.45 eV). Here, total
no of unit cell is N = 50. Total thickness of the structure is d = 8.201 μm, the
thickness of InGaAs, Graphene and AlInAs in each unit cell are d1 = 80 nm,
d2 = 1 nm and d3 = 80 nm respectively and graphene’s relaxation time is 200 fs.
chemical potential we can tune absorption coefficient. The figure of
merit is given by, FOM = Re(kz )/Im(kz ). This value characterize the field
distribution and losses in a material [70]. Fig. 8 shows the FOM with
respect to wavelength for different values of graphene’s chemical po­
tential. With the increase of chemical potential the imaginary part of
propagating vector increases, causing increase in absorption; which in
turn decreases the FOM.
Figs. 9 and 10 show the reflectance and transmittance [71] of the
proposed structure respectively for different values of graphene’s
chemical potential. 50 unit cells are considered and in each unit cell the
thickness of InGaAs, Graphene, AlInAs are, d1 = 80 nm, d2 = 1 nm and
d3 = 80 nm respectively making a total thickness of ∼ 8.201μm. For
each chemical potential when the effective tangential permittivity turns
negative, the transmittance falls sharply and reflectance increases
sharply because at this stage both the real part of effective perpendicular
and tangential permittivity becomes negative (Fig. 3) and their imagi­
nary parts growing rapidly. This causes huge optical loss which leads to
the decrease in transmittance and increase in reflectance rapidly and
this point indicates the long wavelength limit of negative refraction.
Semiconductor metamaterial which can be tuned by varying the
chemical potential of graphene without needing to change the doping
M.T. Islam et al.
Fig. 10. Transmittance versus wavelength with 40◦ incident angle for different
values of graphene’s chemical potential (0.25 eV, 0.35 eV, 0.45 eV). Here, total
no of unit cell is N = 50. Total thickness of the structure is d = 8.201 μm, the
thickness of InGaAs, Graphene and AlInAs in each unit cell are d1 = 80 nm,
d2 = 1 nm and d3 = 80 nm respectively and graphene’s relaxation time is 200 fs.
concentration of semiconductor has not been investigated before us. The
previously reported semiconductor metamaterial [1,12,72,73] can only
be tuned by changing the doping concentration of semiconductor.
Change of doping concentration create losses and also increases
complexity in fabrication.
4. Conclusion
In this article a novel tunable Graphene-Semiconductor meta­
material is proposed. The effective medium theory is applied to analyse
the proposed multilayer structure. The main attractive feature of the
proposed structure is that the spectral region of negative refraction as
well as different other parameters such as transmittance, reflectance,
absorption coefficient can be tuned only by changing the chemical po­
tential of graphene instead of changing the doping concentration of
semiconductor.
Moreover, the tunable characteristics of the permittivity allows to
cut-out the extremely negative values of the real part of effective
permittivity by increasing the graphene’s chemical potential which
makes our proposed structure a potential candidate for metamaterial
devices like hyperlenses or transformation optics. Our proposed struc­
ture can also have potential applications in ultrathin and on-chip inte­
grated optical components such as tunable ultrathin lenses.
Data availability
The detailed mathematical calculation is available in the ‘supple­
mentarty information’, which can be used to reproduce the figures.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Md Tarikul Islam: Conceptualization, Methodology, Visualization,
Software, Data curation, Writing - original draft. Ayed Al Sayem:
Software, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Formal analysis.
Mohammad Istiaque Reja: Conceptualization, Software, Formal anal­
ysis, Writing - review & editing, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
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Materials Today Communications xxx (xxxx) xxx
Acknowledgement
The Authors would like to thank Md. Saiful Islam, Department of
Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Adelaide, Australia
and Dr. Mahdy Rahman Chowdhury, Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, North South University, Bangladesh for giving
fruitful suggestions to improve the manuscript.
Appendix A. Supplementary information
Supplementary material related to this article can be found, in the
online version, at doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2020.101840
.
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