Journal article
Nanoelectromechanical modulation of a strongly-coupled plasmonic dimer
The ability of two nearly-touching plasmonic nanoparticles to squeeze light into a nanometer gap has provided a myriad of fundamental insights into light–matter interaction. In this work, we construct a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) that capitalizes on the unique, singular behavior that arises at sub-nanometer particle-spacings to create an electro-optical modulator.
Using in situ electron energy loss spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope, we map the spectral and spatial changes in the plasmonic modes as they hybridize and evolve from a weak to a strong coupling regime. In the strongly-coupled regime, we observe a very large mechanical tunability (~250 meV/nm) of the bonding-dipole plasmon resonance of the dimer at ~1 nm gap spacing, right before detrimental quantum effects set in.
We leverage our findings to realize a prototype NEMS light-intensity modulator operating at ~10 MHz and with a power consumption of only 4 fJ/bit.
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group UK |
Year: | 2021 |
Pages: | 48 |
ISSN: | 20411723 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-020-20273-2 |
ORCIDs: | Raza, Søren , 0000-0001-9502-5718 , 0000-0003-3033-8005 , 0000-0001-8048-9181 , 0000-0003-3575-3865 and 0000-0003-1777-8970 |