Plasmon drag effect in profile-modulated gold films. Theory and experiment

TL;DR

This paper investigates the plasmon drag effect in profile-modulated gold films through theoretical modeling and experimental validation, revealing proportional energy-momentum transfer and providing insights into surface plasmon interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a modified electromagnetic momentum loss approach to accurately describe the photoinduced voltage in modulated gold films and discusses an equivalent circuit model for rough surfaces.

Findings

Numerical simulations match experimental results for sine-wave modulated films.

Proportionality between energy and momentum transfer is confirmed for low modulation amplitudes.

The equivalent circuit model offers qualitative insights for rough surface plasmon interactions.

Abstract

Plasmon drag effect is studied theoretically and experimentally in gold films with a sine-wave height profile. Numerical simulations based on the modified electromagnetic momentum loss approach are shown to correctly describe the photoinduced voltage associated with propagating surface plasmon polaritons. Direct proportionality of energy and momentum transfer in interactions of plasmons and free electrons in metal is proven to be valid for surfaces with relatively low height modulation amplitudes. The effect is also discussed in frames of an equivalent circuit model, which can provide qualitative description for surfaces with random roughness.