Valley-Hall Topological Transport in Graphene Plasmonic Crystal Waveguides

Due to immunity to disorder and structural imperfections, topologically-protected plasmonic modes have recently attracted increasing attention. Here, we introduce two different mechanisms to construct valley-Hall domain-wall interface waveguides in graphene plasmonic crystal to mimic the quantum valley-Hall effect. In the first case, we break the in-plane spatial inversion symmetry of a single-layer graphene plasmonic crystal waveguide to achieve valley-Hall topological characteristics, whereas in the second case, we break the out-of-plane spatial inversion symmetry of a bi-layer graphene plasmonic crystal waveguide to implement the analog quantum valley-Hall effect. A molecular sensor based on this valley-Hall topological transport phenomenon is also be presented.