Resumo/Summary:

This project's main idea is to develop a new spectroscopic technique based on tunable plasmonics in graphene, by exploring the polarizationdependent interaction of small biomolecules with terahertz (THz) radiation. Graphene is widely recognized as an ideal platform for strong lightmatter interactions due to its excellent plasmonic response in the mid to farinfrared spectral range. In addition, the plasmonic response of graphene is highly tunable in realtime using electrostatic gating. Fundamental structural features of peptides that are critically important for their functions can, in principle, be probed by polarizationdependent spectroscopy in the THz range, as described in a recent simulation study, which also explicitly noted that THz chiroptical spectroscopy has not yet been demonstrated experimentally. The innovative aspect of this project is, therefore, to develop devices that realize this predicted technique for molecular analysis using spectroscopic plasmonics.