Slow light has been widely utilized to obtain enhanced nonlinearities, enhanced spontaneous emissions and increased phase shifts owing to its ability to promote light–matter interactions. By incorporating a graphene on a slow-light silicon photonic crystal waveguide, here we experimentally demonstrate an energy-efficient graphene microheater with a tuning efficiency of 1.07 nmmW⁻¹ and power consumption per free spectral range of 3.99 mW. The rise and decay times (10–90%) are only 750 and 525 ns, which, to the best of our knowledge, are the fastest reported response times for microheaters in silicon photonics. The corresponding figure of merit of the device is 2.543 nW s, one order of magnitude better than results reported in previous studies. The influence of the length and shape of the graphene heater to the tuning efficiency is further investigated, providing valuable guidelines for enhancing the tuning efficiency of the graphene microheater.

With unique possibilities for controlling light in nanoscale devices, graphene plasmonics has opened new perspectives to the nanophotonics community with potential applications in metamaterials, modulators, photodetectors, and sensors. In this paper, we briefly review the recent exciting progress in graphene plasmonics. We begin with a general description of the optical properties of graphene, particularly focusing on the dispersion of graphene-plasmon polaritons. The dispersion relation of graphene-plasmon polaritons of spatially extended graphene is expressed in terms of the local response limit with an intraband contribution. With this theoretical foundation of graphene-plasmon polaritons, we then discuss recent exciting progress, paying specific attention to the following topics: excitation of graphene plasmon polaritons, electron-phonon interactions in graphene on polar substrates, and tunable graphene plasmonics with applications in modulators and sensors. Finally, we address some of the apparent challenges and promising perspectives of graphene plasmonics.

We employ a planar metamaterial structure composed of a split-ring-resonator (SRR) and paired nano-rods to experimentally realize a spectral response at near-infrared frequencies resembling that of electromagnetically induced transparency. A narrow transparency window associated with low loss is produced, and the magnetic field enhancement at the center of the SRR is dramatically changed, due to the interference between the resonances with significantly different linewidths. The variation of the spectral response in terms of relative position of the bright and dark elements is evaluated with numerical simulations.

Graphene‐based photodetectors, taking advantage of the high carrier mobility and broadband absorption in graphene, have recently seen rapid development. However, their performance with respect to responsivity and bandwidth is still limited by the weak light‐graphene interaction and large resistance‐capacitance product. Here, we demonstrate a waveguide‐coupled integrated graphene plasmonic photodetector on a silicon‐on‐insulator platform. Benefiting from plasmon‐enhanced graphene‐light interaction and subwavelength confinement of the optical energy, a small‐footprint graphene‐plasmonic photodetector is achieved working at the telecommunication window, with a large a bandwidth beyond 110 GHz and a high intrinsic responsivity of 360 mA/W. Attributed to the unique electronic band structure of graphene and its ultra‐broadband absorption, operational wavelength range extending beyond mid‐infrared, and possibly further, can be anticipated. Our results show that the combination of graphene with plasmonic devices has great potential to realize ultra‐compact, high‐speed optoelectronic devices for graphene‐based optical interconnects.