Strong light-induced negative optical pressure arising from the kinetic energy of conduction electrons in plasmonic cavities

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that plasmonic cavities can generate strong negative optical pressure driven by the kinetic energy of conduction electrons, with the effect diminishing when using perfect conductors.

Contribution

It introduces a Lagrangian model explaining negative optical pressure in plasmonic cavities based on internal inductance and electron kinetic energy.

Findings

Negative optical pressure is significantly strong in plasmonic cavities.

Replacing metal with perfect conductors reduces and reverses the optical pressure.

The effect is driven by the internal inductance and electron kinetic energy.

Abstract

We found that very strong negative optical pressure can be induced in plasmonic cavities by LC resonance. This interesting effect could be described qualitatively by a Lagrangian model which shows that the negative optical pressure is driven by the internal inductance and the kinetic energy of the conduction electrons. If the metal is replaced by perfect conductors, the optical pressure becomes much smaller and positive.