Graphene plasmonics for subwavelength terahertz oscillators

Plasmons in population inverted graphene can experience extremely large gain through the process of stimulated emission at terahertz frequencies. The large gain values and the small plasmon wavelengths can lead to compact terahertz plasmon lasers and amplifiers that are only a few microns in size. We also present optical and terahertz spectroscopy results for carrier relaxation and recombination dynamics and terahertz gain in graphene and discuss designs for terahertz plasmon lasers and practical schemes for achieving population inversion in graphene.