'Flying Plasmons': Fabry-P\`erot Resonances in Levitated Silver Nanowires

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the observation of Fabry-Pérot resonances in levitated silver nanowires, enabling precise optical characterization of fragile plasmonic nanostructures without substrate effects.

Contribution

It introduces a method to levitate and analyze individual plasmonic nanowires, eliminating substrate influences and allowing for accurate optical property measurements.

Findings

Observation of Fabry-Pérot resonances in levitated nanowires

Numerical modeling accurately reproduces measured spectra

Method enables characterization of fragile and complex plasmonic structures

Abstract

Plasmonic nano structures such as wire waveguides or antennas are key building blocks for novel highly integrated photonics. A quantitative understanding of the optical material properties of individual structures on the nanoscale is thus indispensable for predicting and designing the functionality of complex composite elements. In this letter we study propagating surface plasmon polaritons in single silver nanowires isolated from its environment by levitation in a linear Paul trap. Symmetry-breaking effects, e.g., from supporting substrates are completely eliminated in this way. Illuminated with white light from a supercontinuum source, Fabry-P\`erot-like resonances are observed in the scattering spectra obtained from the ends of the nanowires. The plasmonic nature of the signal is verified by local excitation and photon collection corresponding to a clean transmission measurement through a Fabry-P\`erot resonator. A numerical simulation is used to compute the complex effective refractive indices of the nanowires as input parameter for a simple Fabry-P\`erot model, which nicely reproduces the measured spectra despite the highly dispersive nature of the system. Our studies pave the way for quantitative characterization of nearly any trappable plasmonic nano object, even of fragile ones such as droplets of liquids or molten metal and of nearly any nanoresonator based on a finite waveguide with implications for modeling of complex hybrid structures featuring strong coupling or lasing. Moreover, the configuration has the potential to be complemented by gas sensors to study the impact of hot electrons on catalytic reactions nearby plasmonic particles.