Probing Graphene χ(2) Using a Gold Photon Sieve

Nonlinear second harmonic optical activity of graphene covering a gold photon sieve was determined for different polarizations. The photon sieve consists of a subwavelength gold nanohole array placed on glass. It combines the benefits of efficient light trapping and surface plasmon propagation to unravel different elements of graphene second-order susceptibility χ(2). Those elements efficiently contribute to second harmonic generation. In fact, the graphene-coated photon sieve produces a second harmonic intensity at least two orders of magnitude higher compared with a bare, flat gold layer and an order of magnitude coming from the plasmonic effect of the photon sieve; the remaining enhancement arises from the graphene layer itself. The measured second harmonic generation yield, supplemented by semianalytical computations, provides an original method to constrain the graphene χ(2) elements. The values obtained are |d 31 + d 33| ≤ 8.1 × 103 pm2/V and |d 15| ≤ 1.4 × 106 pm2/V for a second harmonic signal at 780 nm. This original method can be applied to any kind of 2D materials covering such a plasmonic structure.