Thermal radiation and near-field thermal imaging of a plasmonic Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain

TL;DR

This paper studies the thermal emission properties and near-field imaging of a plasmonic Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain of InSb nanoparticles, focusing on topological phase transition signatures and the effects of substrates.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of thermal radiation and near-field imaging techniques for topological plasmonic chains, highlighting measurable signatures of topological edge modes.

Findings

Identification of signatures of topological edge modes in thermal emission

Impact of substrates on near-field and far-field emission

Feasibility of detecting topological phase transition in experiments

Abstract

We investigate the direct thermal emission spectrum of a plasmonic Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain of InSb nanoparticles as well as its far-field emission due to near-field scattering by a sharp tip as it is used in scattering type thermal microscopes. We discuss the measurability of the topological phase transition in such far-field and near-field experiments and highlight the signatures of the topological edge modes. We further discuss the impact of a substrate.