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Plasmon-induced efficient hot carrier generation in graphene on gold ultrathin film with periodic array of holes: Ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy

Using ultrafast pump-probe reflectivity with 3.1 eV pump and coherent white light probe (1.1 to 2.6 eV), we show that graphene on gold nanostructures exhibits a strong coupling to the plasmonic resonances of the ordered lattice hole array, thus injecting a high density of hot carriers in graphene through plasmons. The system being studied is single-layer graphene on ultrathin film of gold with periodic arrangements of holes showing anomalous transmission. A comparison is made with gold film with and without hole array. By selectively probing transient carrier dynamics in the spectral regions corresponding to plasmonic resonances, we show efficient plasmon-induced hot carrier generation in graphene. We also show that due to high electromagnetic field intensities at the edge of the sub-micron holes, fast decay time (10-100 fs) and short decay length (1 nm) of plasmons, a highly confined density of hot carriers (very close to edge of the holes) is generated by Landau damping of plasmons within the holey gold film. A contribution to transient decay dynamics due to diffusion of initial non-uniform distribution of hot carriers away from the hole edges is observed. Our results are important for future applications of novel hot carrier device concepts where hot carriers with tunable energy can be generated in different graphene regions connected seamlessly.