Renormalization of nanoparticle polarizability in the vicinity of a graphene-covered interface

Abstract

We study the electromagnetic properties of a metamaterial consisting of polarizable (nano)particles and a single graphene sheet placed at the interface between two dielectrics. We show that the particle's polarizability is renormalized because of the electromagnetic coupling to surface plasmons supported by graphene, which results in a dispersive behavior, different for the polarizability components corresponding to the induced dipole moment, parallel and perpendicular to the graphene sheet. In particular, this effect is predicted to take place for a metallic particle whose bare polarizability in the terahertz (THz) region is practically equal to the cube of its radius (times $4\pi \varepsilon _0$). This opens the possibility to excite surface plasmons in graphene and enhance its absorption in the THz range by simply using a monolayer of metallic particles randomly deposited on top of it, as we show by explicit calculations.