PHYSICAL REVIEW B 89, 035421 (2014)

Transverse-electric surface plasmon for graphene in the Dirac equation model

M. Bordag*
Institute for Theoretical Physics, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany

I. G. Pirozhenko
Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and Dubna International University,
Dubna 141980, Russia
(Received 9 December 2012; revised manuscript received 2 January 2014; published 16 January 2014)
We consider single-layer plane graphene with electronic excitations described by the Dirac equation. Using
a known representation of the polarization tensor in terms of the spinor loop, we show the existence of surface
modes, i.e., undamped in time excitations of the electromagnetic field, propagating along the graphene. These
show up in the TE polarization and exist at zero temperature. We start with a finite-mass gap, which can be
shrunk to zero at the end preserving the existence of the plasmon found. We also discuss the scattering modes.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.89.035421

PACS number(s): 81.05.ue, 71.45.Gm, 78.67.Wj, 73.20.Mf

I. INTRODUCTION

Surface plasmons are excitations of the electromagnetic

field traveling along the interface between two media or along
a thin sheet, decreasing exponentially fast on both sides of the
interface. These excitations have been studied in detail, both
theoretically and experimentally (see, for instance, [1,2]). In
the present paper we investigate such excitations on graphene.
The latter is at present the focus of much attention because of its
quite special properties (see, for example, [3]). The electronic
excitations, primarily responsible for the interaction with the
electromagnetic field, are best described by a Dirac equation
with correspondingly chosen parameters [4]. This holds at
least near the Dirac points. The response of this model to
electric and magnetic fields was considered in [5]. For a recent
introduction to this model in terms of quantum field theory,
see [6].
Surface plasmons on graphene were investigated in a large
number of papers (see, for example, [7,8], as well as [912],
for the gapless case with finite chemical potential, with and
without temperature). For instance, in [12], their existence was
shown in the TE polarization.
In the present paper we consider the case of a vanishing
chemical potential at zero temperature but allow for a nonzero
mass gap. As it turns out, this is necessary to find the plasmon,
although it survives the limit mass to zero, which may be taken
at the end. We start from the polarization tensor as it follows
in relativistic quantum field theory from the Dirac model for
the electronic excitations. Then we use the expression of the
reflection coefficients for the scattering of electromagnetic
waves on the graphene sheet in terms of the polarization tensor.
We will find a plasmon in the TE polarization, which is stable
and which exists in the whole frequency region.
Here we add some remarks on surface plasmons in general.
These are excitations of the electronic medium coupled to
a transverse electromagnetic field, which are distinct from
longitudinal excitations. Such waves propagate on the interface
between two dielectric media with permittivities 1 and 2 in

bordag@itp.uni-leipzig.de
pirozhen@theor.jinr.ru

1098-0121/2014/89(3)/035421(5)

the case where the relations 1 2 < 0 and 1 + 2 < 0 hold

simultaneously [13]. For the surface of metal, described by
the plasma model with
pl = 1

p2
2

(1)

where p is the plasma frequency, these relations are satisfied

for  p /2. Such modes are known also on an infinitely thin
metal sheet described by plasma confined to a plane, which
may serve as a hydrodynamic model for graphene [14]. In this
case, the response to the electromagnetic field is described by
matching conditions the field has to satisfy across the sheet.
These conditions are quite simple and result in the reflection
coefficients [see Eqs. (2.14) and (2.15) in [14]]
hy

rTE =

1
1

icq
p

hy

, rTM =

1+

2
icq p

(2)

for a standard scattering setup; here the superscript hy denotes

the hydrodynamic model, c is the speed of light, and p is
the in-plane plasma frequency given by the same formula as
p in Eq. (1) except it is for the electron density, which is the
density per unit area here. Thereby the electromagnetic field
is separated into the usual polarizations, TE and TM, with
plane-wave amplitudes (t,r) exp(it + ik|| x|| )(z),
 iqz
e + reiqz , (z < 0),
(z) =
(3)
teiqz ,
(z > 0).
Here the z axis is perpendicular to the sheet, k|| is the in-plane
wave number, and q is the wave number perpendicular to the
sheet. The Maxwell equations give
2 = c2 (k||2 + q 2 ),

(4)

with k|| = |k|| |, and the matching conditions result in the

reflection coefficients (2) (and in similar expressions for the
corresponding transmission coefficients t). For comparison
we note the corresponding formulas for the case of dielectric
media on both sides of the interface. In that case, the z
dependence of the amplitude is exp(iq1,2 z), with wave
numbers q1 and q2 in the respective media having permittivities
2
1 and 2 . The Maxwell equations give 1,2 2 = c2 (k2|| + q1,2
),

035421-1

2014 American Physical Society

M. BORDAG AND I. G. PIROZHENKO

PHYSICAL REVIEW B 89, 035421 (2014)

and the reflection coefficients are

pl

rTE =

q1 q2
,
q1 + q2

pl

rTM =

2 q1 1 q2
.
2 q1 + 1 q2

(5)

A surface plasmon appears for real frequency sf , for which

the reflection coefficient in (3) has a pole,
r| =sf ,

(6)

and the wave number q (or, correspondingly, q1,2 ) is imaginary,

q = i,

(7)

where is the inverse decay length of the amplitude in the

direction perpendicular to the surface.
In such a setup, the spectrum of the electromagnetic field
consists of scattering modes, which have real , k|| , and q, and
sometimes surface modes. For metals described by the plasma
model and for graphene described by the hydrodynamic model,
surface modes exist in the TM polarization.
It must be mentioned that the usage of the term surface
plasmon is not unique. Frequently, these are also called
surface polaritons. Excitations with complex frequency ,
which are, strictly speaking, resonances, are included in this
notion too. We mention also that for surface plasmons to
exist they need at least one translationally invariant direction.
Otherwise, the poles of the reflection coefficient appear
at complex frequency and such modes decay. It must be
mentioned that decaying modes may be quite long-lived and
are of interest for applications.
From the theoretical point of view, surface plasmons, being
part of the spectrum, are interesting per se. Special interest
comes from the role of the surface plasmons in the Lifshitz
formula describing the Casimir and van der Waals interaction;
see [15,16] for the nonretarded and [17] for the retarded cases
for metals described by the plasma model and [16] for the
hydrodynamic model. Also these play an important role in the
temperature corrections to the Lifshitz formula [18]. They also
have a role in applications, for example, in nanophotonics.
In the next section we show the existence of such plasmons
on graphene at zero temperature.
Throughout this paper we use units with  = c = 1.
II. SURFACE PLASMONS IN THE DIRAC MODEL

The description of graphene by a Dirac equation is a model

for the electronic excitations accounting for the linearity of
their spectrum near the Fermi points. In the language of
quantum field theory one has to calculate a spinor loop in
(1 + 2) dimensions in the metric
= diag(1,v,v),

(8)

where v = 1/300 is the Fermi velocity (in units of the speed

of light), and to couple the emerging one-loop polarization
tensor mn to the electromagnetic field in (3 + 1) dimensions.
This was done in a number of papers. Following [19], the
polarization tensor in momentum representation is given by


p j p l

= 2 jn g j l 2 ln (p),

(9)
mn (p)
p
v

with the Minkowskian three-momentum


p = p02 v 2 p 2 ,

(10)

which is the relativistic invariant in the metric (8), and the

function


p
N
2
2
=
2mp (p + 4m )arctanh
.
(11)
(p)
2p
2m
Here = e2 /(4 ) is the fine-structure constant and N = 4 is
the number of fermion species.
The relation with the reflection coefficients was established
in [20] at T = 0 (it was extended in [21] to T = 0). At T = 0,
these reflection coefficients are
1
1
Di
Di
rTE
=
, rTM
=
,
(12)
1
1 + QTE
1 + Q1
TM
with
QTE =

p||

(p),
QTM =
(p)
2p||
2p ||2

and with the notations



p|| = p42 + p 2 , p || = p42 + v 2 p 2 .

(13)

(14)

These momenta are related to (10) by a Wick rotation, p0 =

ip4 , and p is the spatial momentum. In (13), The mass m
is the gap parameter. It should be mentioned that Eq. (11)
is the complete first-order contribution to the fine-structure
constant .
The above momenta are related to the photon momenta in
Eqs. (3) and (4) by

p0 = , k|| = p.
Thus
p =


2 v 2 k||2

(15)

(16)

will be real for  vk|| and the relations


p|| = 2 + k||2 = ,
p || = i

(17)


2

v 2 k||2

= i p

implying the restriction  k|| . Using

hold with real and p,
these notations, we rewrite (13),

(p),
QTM = 2 (p).
QTE =
(18)
2
2p
In order to establish the relation to notations used in solid-state
theory we mention the conductivity tensor, which is related to
the polarization tensor (9) by [22]
1 ik

 (p).
(19)
i
Then the conditions for the reflection coefficients (12) to have
a pole are equivalent to, for example, Eqs. (1) and (2) in [12].
At this point the signs become important. First, we note
ij =

0
(p)

(20)

for 0  p  2m, which can be seen explicitly from (11). It

should be mentioned that this condition, together with the

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TRANSVERSE-ELECTRIC SURFACE PLASMON FOR . . .

PHYSICAL REVIEW B 89, 035421 (2014)

reality of , defines the only region where QTE and QTM are
real. The upper bound is the threshold of pair production.
takes negative values. This is due
We emphasize that (p)
to the extra minus sign a spinor loop has from the statistics,
which is distinct from a bosonic loop. This sign makes the
reflection coefficient of the TE polarization have a pole, and
as a consequence, a surface plasmon appears in the spectrum.
For comparison we mention the hydrodynamic model.
Using the same notations as in (18), we have
p
p
QTE =
(21)
, QTM = 2 ,

and the pole is possible only in the TM polarization.

Thus, in the Dirac model, we may have a pole in the
reflection coefficient of the TE polarization. Its location is
the solution of the equation
1 + QTE = 0.

(22)

Inserting (18) and (11), this equation can be rewritten in the

form




p
p
2m
+
arctanh
1 , (23)
k||2 2 = 2m
p
2m
2m
where we used the first line in Eq. (17) for and have from
the second line

p = 2 v 2 k||2 .
(24)

2m
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
1

(25)

is the dispersion relation of the surface plasmon. For this

solution, from the reality of and p and using Eq. (17), the
restriction
vk||  sf (k|| )  k||

(26)

follows. Further, the solutions do not exceed the threshold of

pair creation; that is, they satisfy
p  2m

(27)

would not be real and Eq. (23) could

since, otherwise, (p)
not have a real solution.
The solution of Eq. (23) exists for all k|| . It can be found
numerically. Such solutions are shown in Fig. 1 for v = 1/2
and in Fig. 2 for v = 1/300 for several values of .
The asymptotic behavior for small k|| can be found by
rewriting Eq. (23) in the form




 2
p
2m
p
2
arctanh
= k|| 2m
(28)
+
1
p
2m
2m
and iterating, starting with inserting = k|| in the right-hand
side. One obtains
sf (k|| ) = k||
+

2m

which is the expansion of the solution in powers of k|| . In order

to get the behavior for large k|| , it is meaningful to rewrite the
equation in the form
2 =v 2 k||2 + (2m)2


 
 2
2 v 2 k||2 1 k||2 2 + 2m

(2m)2 cosh
.
2 v 2 k||2 + (2m)2
(30)

It can be iterated by inserting = v 2 k||2 + (2m)2 in the righthand side. The solution is

(31)
sf (k|| ) = v 2 k||2 + (2m)2 + ,
where the dots denote contributions that are exponentially
small for large k|| .
In this way, we have for both limiting cases a linear
dispersion relation,

k|| for 0,
(32)
sf (k|| ) =
vk|| for .
2m
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2

8 (1 v ) 3
k||
9 (2m)3
2

FIG. 1. The solutions of Eq. (23) for v = 1/2 and several values
of parameter . From bottom to top, the curves correspond to =
1, 0.5, 0.2, 0.1, 1/137.

This equation defines a relation between and k|| . Its solution,

sf (k|| ),

2 2

32
2 (1 v 2 )3 5
k|| + ,
[9 (35 + 5v 2 ) 2 ]
405
(2m)4
(29)

2m

FIG. 2. The solutions of Eq. (23) for v = 1/300 and several

values of parameter . From bottom to top, the curves correspond
to = 1, 0.5, 0.2, 0.1, 1/137.

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M. BORDAG AND I. G. PIROZHENKO

PHYSICAL REVIEW B 89, 035421 (2014)

2m
2

III

II
2 2

k
m

4m

2m

3k
2m

TE

0.02

I
1

12

The behavior in between these limiting cases, as can be seen

from the figures, is smooth for any fixed values of parameters
and v. It lies in the sector where both inequalities < k||
and < (v 2 k||2 + 4m2 )1/2 hold (see Fig. 3). For small , the
curve has a quite sharp knee. For the physical values of the
parameters it can be considered
to consist of two straight lines,

crossing at k|| = 2m/ 1 v 2 .

The massless case corresponds to both large and k|| . In
that case we get from Eq. (31)
sf (k|| )|m=0 = vk|| ,

FIG. 5. (Color online) Real and imaginary parts of the reflection

coefficients rTDiE and rTDiM in the Dirac model as functions of frequency
with k|| = 3m > 2m/(1 v 2 )1/2 . The threshold of pair creation, =
(v 2 k||2 + 4m2 )1/2 , lies beyond the scattering sector. Here |r T M | < 1
always holds.

mention the scattering waves. In the (,k|| ) plane these fill

the region where > k|| (shaded region) in Fig. 3. There a
surface
mode is shown too. An imaginary part appears for
> v 2 k||2 + 4m2 (regions II and III in Fig. 3). The reflection
coefficients for the scattering waves are shown in Figs. 4 and 5.
Their limiting cases are

(33)

i.e., a linear dispersion relation. It must be mentioned that

resulting
this limit cannot be performed in the function (p),
because, as we
from the polarization tensor for any finite p,
know in hindsight, p becomes small and does not exceed the
pair-creation threshold (27).
In order to complete the understanding of the electromagnetic waves interacting with a graphene sheet we briefly

III

2m

FIG. 3. (Color online) The frequencies of scattering waves obey

the condition > k|| . The pair creation begins when exceeds
the threshold 4m2 + v 2 k||2 . For completeness the dispersion of the
surface plasmon for = v = 0.5 is also shown (solid line).

r TE 1,

r TE

k

r TM 0,
k

r TM

Near the threshold, for

1
,
1 + 2/

1
.
1 + 2/

(34)

v 2 k||2 + 4m2 , we note

r TE 1,

r TM 1.

(35)

III. CONCLUSIONS

rDi

II

TM

2m
2

TM

rDi

0.05

TE
4 m2

2 2

0.05

FIG. 4. (Color online) Real and imaginary parts of the reflection

coefficients rTDiE and rTDiM in the Dirac model as functions of frequency
with k|| = m < 2m/(1 v 2 )1/2 . The threshold of pair creation, =
(v 2 k||2 + 4m2 )1/2 , lies within the scattering sector.

We have shown the existence of a surface plasmon on

graphene at zero temperature and zero chemical potential
but with finite mass (gap parameter). We used the Dirac
model, accounting for the spinor loop, i.e., for the one-loop
polarization tensor, without doing further approximations. The
surface plasmon shows up in the TE polarization, which is due
to the minus sign a Fermi loop has compared to a bosonic
one.
The surface plasmon appears at a frequency giving the
reflection coefficient a pole. The corresponding equation (23)
defines the frequency sf (k|| ) as a unique function of the
in-plane wave number k|| . This solution exists for any k|| , and
sf (k|| ) can take any real, positive value (see Figs. 1 and 2).
Equation (23) is the dispersion relation for this plasmon.
For small and large k|| [Eq. (32)] and in the massless case
[Eq. (33)], this relation is linear. We mention that the dispersion
relation of the plasmon depends only on the mass m and on
the Fermi velocity v; in the massless case it depends on v only
[Eq. (33)]. Also we mention that the solution is real; that is, this
plasmon does not decay. In order to give some impression of

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TRANSVERSE-ELECTRIC SURFACE PLASMON FOR . . .

PHYSICAL REVIEW B 89, 035421 (2014)

the complete spectrum of the electromagnetic field interaction

with the graphene sheet we also discussed the scattering states
and displayed their reflection coefficients.
It is interesting to mention the role of the mass. We started
from a finite mass and found the plasmon. It turns out that
this plasmon continues to exist if decreasing the mass to zero
afterwards. It would not have been found if the mass had
been set to zero from the very beginning. It might be worth
mentioning here the nonzero, albeit small, mass found, for
example, in [2325].
We found the surface plasmon at zero temperature, T =
0. It is clear that it survives also at finite temperature if the
temperature is sufficiently small. This is because temperature
corrections to QTE (as well as to QTM ) are always positive.
These are small at sufficiently low temperature but grow with
increasing temperature until they exceed the negative QTE
[Eq. (18)].

We have to mention that the plasmon found here is different

from those known in the literature. The closest to ours are
those in [12], which exist in the TE polarization. There, a zero
mass along with a nonzero chemical potential was assumed.
Therefore it would be interesting to expand our calculation,
keeping a nonzero mass, to nonzero chemical potential.
Finally, we mention that the surface plasmon found here
has a good chance of existing on a carbon nanotube too. In the
present paper we assumed a flat graphene sheet, neglecting the
ripples, and we did not estimate their influence, which might
be of interest as well.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

M.B. is indebted to Gabriel Barton for discussions a decade

ago on surface plasmons on carbon structures. We acknowledge partial support from the Heisenberg-Landau Programme.

035421-5