Influence of spherical anisotropy on optical mass sensing in a molecular-plasmonic optomechanical system

TL;DR

This paper develops a room-temperature mass sensing method using a molecular plasmonic system with a graphene nanoribbon and spherical cavities, highlighting the impact of spherical anisotropy on sensitivity.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for optomechanical coupling in anisotropic plasmonic cavities, enabling enhanced mass sensing performance at room temperature.

Findings

Anisotropic spherical nanocavities improve probe transmission sensitivity.

Derived size-dependent optomechanical coupling functions.

Potential to detect minimal mass changes at room temperature.

Abstract

We use an all-optical pump-probe method to develop a mass sensing mechanism in a molecular plasmonic system at room temperature. The system consists of a double-clamped graphene nanoribbon that parametrically interacts with two types of isotropic and anisotropic spherical plasmonic cavities in the presence of a strong pump field and a weak probe pulse. Based on the mode-selective quantization scheme and analogy with the canonical model of the cavity optomechanics, we formulate the Hamiltonian of the system in terms of the electromagnetic Greens tensor. In this manner, we derive an explicit form of size-dependent optomechanical coupling function and plasmonic damping rate, which include the modal, geometrical, and material features of the plasmonic structure. Engineering material features of the plasmonic nanostructure, we find that the intensity of the probe field transmission spectrum for radially anisotropic spherical nanocavity enhances significantly compared to the silver sphere nanocavity due to the mode volume reduction. This scheme can provide to achieve the minimum measurable mass at room temperature.