Symmetry enhanced non-reciprocal polarization rotation in a terahertz metal-graphene metasurface

In the present article we numerically investigated the magneto-optical behaviour of a sub-wavelength structure composed by a monolayer graphene and a metallic metasurface of optical resonators. Using this hybrid graphene-metal structure, a large increase of the non-reciprocal polarization rotation of graphene can be achieved over a broad range of terahertz frequencies. We demonstrate that the symmetry of the resonator geometry plays a key role for the performance of the system: in particular, increasing the symmetry of the resonator the non-reciprocal properties can be progressively enhanced. Moreover, the possibility to exploit the metallic metasurface as a voltage gate to vary the graphene Fermi energy allows the system working point to be tuned to the desired frequency range. Another peculiar result is the achievement of a structure able to operate both in transmission and reflection with almost the same performance, but in a different frequency range of operation. The described system is hence a sub-wavelength, tunable, multifunctional, effective non-reciprocal element in the terahertz region.