Density-independent plasmons for terahertz-stable topological metamaterials

Abstract

To efficiently integrate cutting-edge terahertz technology into compact devices, the highly confined terahertz plasmons are attracting intensive attentions. Compared to plasmons at visible frequencies in metals, terahertz plasmons, typically in lightly doped semiconductors or graphene, are sensitive to carrier density (n) and thus have an easy tunability, which, however, leads to unstable or imprecise terahertz spectra. By deriving a simplified but universal form of plasmon frequencies, here we reveal a unified mechanism for generating unusual n-independent plasmons (DIPs) in all topological states with different dimensions. Remarkably, we predict that terahertz DIPs can be excited in 2D nodal-line and 1D nodal-point systems, confirmed by the first-principles calculations on almost all existing topological semimetals with diverse lattice symmetries. Besides of n independence, the feature of Fermi-velocity and degeneracy-factor dependences in DIPs can be applied to design topological superlattice and multi-walled carbon nanotube metamaterials for broadband terahertz spectroscopy and quantized terahertz plasmons, respectively. Surprisingly, high spatial confinement and quality factor, also insensitive to n, can be simultaneously achieved in these terahertz DIPs. Our findings pave the way to developing topological plasmonic devices for stable terahertz applications.