Accessing Plasmonic Hotspots using Nanoparticle-on-Foil Constructs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a nanoparticle-on-foil system that enables multi-channel access to deep-subwavelength plasmonic hotspots by mixing different modes, facilitating easier light coupling and enhanced near-field interactions.

Contribution

The study demonstrates a novel nanoparticle-on-foil configuration that mixes IMI and MIM modes, providing multiple pathways for light access to plasmonic hotspots.

Findings

Multi-channel access to nanocavities achieved

Experimental tuning of MIMI modes with foil thickness

Enhanced near-field strength observed in experiments

Abstract

Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) nanogaps in canonical nanoparticle-on-mirror geometry (NPoM) provide deep-subwavelength confinement of light with mode volumes smaller than $V/V_0$ $<$ $10^{-6}$. However, access to these hotspots is limited by the impendence mismatch between the high in-plane $k_{//}$ of trapped light and free-space plane-waves, making the in- and out-coupling of light difficult. Here, by constructing a nanoparticle-on-foil (NPoF) system with thin metal films, we show the mixing of insulator-metal-insulator (IMI) modes and MIM gap modes resulting in MIMI modes. This mixing provides multi-channel access to the plasmonic nanocavity through light incident from both sides of the metal film. The red-tuning and near-field strength of MIMI modes for thinner foils is measured experimentally with white-light scattering and surface-enhanced Raman scattering from individual NPoFs. We discuss further the utility of NPoF systems since the geometry allows tightly confined light to be accessed simply and through different ports.