A Model Dielectric Function for Graphene from the Infrared to the Ultraviolet

ABSTRACTA modified critical point model dielectric function for graphene is derived here and used to analyze spectroscopic ellipsometry data obtained over a wide spectral range from 3 to 9 eV. Critical point and exciton resonance energies are extracted and discussed. Our findings indicate that epitaxial graphene on SiC to exhibits equivalent exciton behavior to that of suspended graphene. We further apply our model dielectric function to evaluate dielectric function data for highly oriented pyrolytic graphite reported in the literature. Excellent agreement is found between the critical point model developed here and the literature data even for the low energy spectral range up to 1 eV.