Directional picoantenna behavior of tunnel junctions in the presence of atomic-scale defects

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Mateos, David, Jover, Oscar, Varea, Miguel, Lauwaet, Koen, Granados, Daniel, Miranda, Rodolfo, Fernandez-Dominguez, Antonio I., Martin-Jimenez, Alberto, Otero, Roberto
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Mateos, David
Jover, Oscar
Varea, Miguel
Lauwaet, Koen
Granados, Daniel
Miranda, Rodolfo
Fernandez-Dominguez, Antonio I.
Martin-Jimenez, Alberto
Otero, Roberto
author_facet Mateos, David
Jover, Oscar
Varea, Miguel
Lauwaet, Koen
Granados, Daniel
Miranda, Rodolfo
Fernandez-Dominguez, Antonio I.
Martin-Jimenez, Alberto
Otero, Roberto
contents Plasmonic nanoantennas, metallodielectric structures with engineered size and shape, have attracted much attention lately as they make the control of the directionality and temporal characteristics of light emitted by fluorophores possible. Nanoantennas exploit light-matter interactions mediated by Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances and, so far, have been demonstrated using metallic nanoparticles or other metallic nanostructures. Plasmonic picocavities, i.e., plasmonic cavities with mode volumes below 1 cubic nanometer, could act as antennas to mediate light-matter interaction even more efficiently than their nanoscale counterparts due to their extreme field confinement, but the directionality on their emission is difficult to control. In this work, we show that the plasmonic picocavity formed between the tip of a Scanning Tunnelling Microscope and a metal surface with a monoatomic step shows directional emission profiles and, thus, can be considered as a realization of a picoantenna. Comparison with electromagnetic calculations demonstrates that the observed directionality arises from light emission tilting of the picocavity plasmons. Our results, thus, pave the way to exploiting picoantennas as an efficient way to control light-matter interaction at the nanoscale.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_01151
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Directional picoantenna behavior of tunnel junctions in the presence of atomic-scale defects
Mateos, David
Jover, Oscar
Varea, Miguel
Lauwaet, Koen
Granados, Daniel
Miranda, Rodolfo
Fernandez-Dominguez, Antonio I.
Martin-Jimenez, Alberto
Otero, Roberto
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Optics
Plasmonic nanoantennas, metallodielectric structures with engineered size and shape, have attracted much attention lately as they make the control of the directionality and temporal characteristics of light emitted by fluorophores possible. Nanoantennas exploit light-matter interactions mediated by Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances and, so far, have been demonstrated using metallic nanoparticles or other metallic nanostructures. Plasmonic picocavities, i.e., plasmonic cavities with mode volumes below 1 cubic nanometer, could act as antennas to mediate light-matter interaction even more efficiently than their nanoscale counterparts due to their extreme field confinement, but the directionality on their emission is difficult to control. In this work, we show that the plasmonic picocavity formed between the tip of a Scanning Tunnelling Microscope and a metal surface with a monoatomic step shows directional emission profiles and, thus, can be considered as a realization of a picoantenna. Comparison with electromagnetic calculations demonstrates that the observed directionality arises from light emission tilting of the picocavity plasmons. Our results, thus, pave the way to exploiting picoantennas as an efficient way to control light-matter interaction at the nanoscale.
title Directional picoantenna behavior of tunnel junctions in the presence of atomic-scale defects
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.01151