Tailorable reflection of surface plasmons in defect engineered graphene

The electrical, optical, mechanical and thermal properties of graphene can be significantly altered by defects, thus engineering the defects in graphene is promising for applications in functionalized materials and nanoscale devices. Here the propagations of surface plasmon waves near graphene defect boundaries created by ion beams are studied. Specifically, plasmon reflections are observed near the induced defect boundaries for the first time, which implies that ion-irradiation induced defects act as efficient scattering centers for the plasmonic waves, just like the native grain boundaries. Moreover, engineering the defects with varied ion doses results in tailorable plasmon reflection properties due to changed defect degrees. The controllable plasmon reflections near ion induced defect boundaries open up a new avenue for plasmon wave engineering.