Transverse magnetic surface plasmons and complete absorption supported by doped graphene in Otto configuration

High sensitivity of the Attenuated Total Reflectance technique for exciting transverse magnetic surface plasmons in free-standing doped graphene is reported; complete agreement with the electromagnetic dispersion relation is numerically demonstrated in the terahertz regime. By reducing the air gap between prism and graphene in the Otto configuration we found that the surface plasmon excitation is weakened, but interference effects arise producing perfect absorption. At 5 THz two dips of zero-reflection were found, one of them with residual plasmonic contribution. Consequently, the reflection can be suppressed by changing the separation between prism and graphene; it is not needed to modify the graphene doping level. Conditions for destructive interference leading to complete absorption are presented and a particular behavior of the evanescent magnetic fields just at perfect absorption is reported