Perturbation theory for two-dimensional hydrodynamic plasmons

Abstract

Perturbation theory is an indispensable tool in quantum mechanics and electrodynamics that handles weak effects on particle motion or fields. However, its extension to plasmons involving complex motion of {\it both} particles and fields remained challenging. We show that this challenge can be mastered if electron motion obeys the laws of hydrodynamics, as recently confirmed in experiments with ultra-clean heterostructures. We present a unified approach to evaluate corrections to plasmon spectra induced by carrier drift, magnetic field, Berry curvature, scattering, and viscosity. As a first application, we study the stability of direct current in confined two-dimensional electron systems against self-excitation of plasmons. We show that arbitrarily weak current in the absence of dissipation is unstable provided the structure lacks mirror symmetry. As a second application, we indicate that in extended periodic systems -- plasmonic crystals -- carrier drift induces anomalous Doppler shift, which can be both below and higher than its value in uniform systems. Finally, we exactly evaluate the effect of Berry curvature on spectra of edge plasmons and demonstrate the non-reciprocity induced by anomalous velocity.

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• Micrometer-scale ballistic transport in encapsulated graphene at room temperature
• Amplified-reflection plasmon instabilities in grating-gate plasmonic crystals
• Boundary instability of a two-dimensional plasma
• Perturbation Theory for Plasmonic Modulation and Sensing
• Spontaneous Parity-Time Symmetry Breaking in Moving Media
• Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of the Dirac fluid of charge carriers on graphene