Reconfigurable and tunable flat graphene photonic crystal circuits

Photonic crystal waveguides and circuits are one of the basic modules for integrated photonic devices. They mainly rely on photonic bandgaps to achieve light confinement and manipulation. Herein, we propose a novel general principle or method to achieve reconfigurable and tunable flat graphene photonic crystals (FG-PCs) by selectively electrostatic gating a layer of graphene with periodic gold electrodes. The tunable flat photonic bandgap structure of the FG-PCs as a function of the Fermi level is investigated. Reconfigurable FG-PC defect waveguides and cavities created by external patterned-gate-voltage control are also proposed and discussed. The features of reconfigurable/tunable FG-PCs will add more flexibility and capabilities for the single chip integration of graphene-based integrated photonic devices.