Topological Graphene plasmons in a plasmonic realization of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Model

Graphene hybrids, made of thin insulators, graphene, and metals can support propagating acoustic plasmons (AGPs). The metal screening modifies the dispersion relation of usual graphene plasmons leading to slowly propagating plasmons, with record confinement of electromagnetic radiation. Here, we show that a graphene monolayer, covered by a thin dielectric material and an array of metallic nanorods, can be used as a robust platform to emulate the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. We calculate the Zak's phase of the different plasmonic bands to characterize their topology. The system shows bulk-edge correspondence: strongly localized interface states are generated in the domain walls separating arrays in different topological phases. We find signatures of the nontrivial phase which can directly be probed by far-field mid-IR radiation, hence allowing a direct experimental confirmation of graphene topological plasmons. The robust field enhancement, highly localized nature of the interface states, and their gate-tuned frequencies expand the capabilities of AGP-based devices.T.G.R. acknowledges funding from Fundacao para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and Instituto de Telecomunicacoes. grant number UID/50008/2020.in the framework of the project Sym-Break and Mario G. Silveirinha for useful discussions. Y.V.B., N.M.R.P. and F.H.L.K. acknowledge support from the European Commission through the project "Graphene-Driven Revolutions in ICT and Beyond" (ref. no. 881603, CORE 3). Y.V.B. and N.M.R.P. acknowledge COMPETE 2020, PORTUGAL 2020, FEDER, and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through project POCI-010145-FEDER-028114. F.H.L.K. acknowledges financial support from the Government of Catalonia through the SGR grant, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the "Severo Ochoa" Programme for Centres of Excellence in RD (SEV-2015-0522), Fundacio Cellex Barcelona, Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA program, the Mineco grants Ramon y Cajal (RYC-201212281), Plan Nacional (FIS2013-47161-P and FIS2014-59639JIN), and the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) 2017 SGR 1656. This work was supported by the ERC TOPONANOP under grant agreement n 726001 and the MINECO Plan Nacional Grant 2DNANOTOP under reference no FIS2016-81044-P