Generating Ultrabroadband Deep-UV Radiation and Sub-10 nm Gap by Hybrid-Morphology Gold Antennas

authored by: Liping Shi, José Ricardo Cardoso de Andrade, Ayhan Tajalli Seifi, Jiao Geng, Juemin Yi, Torsten Heidenblut, Frans B. Segerink, Ihar Babushkin, Maria Kholodtsova, Hamed Merdji, Bert Bastiaens, Uwe Morgner, Milutin Kovacev
Abstract: We experimentally investigate the interaction between hybrid-morphology gold optical antennas and a few-cycle Ti:sapphire laser up to ablative intensities, demonstrating rich nonlinear plasmonic effects and promising applications in coherent frequency upconversion and nanofabrication technology. The two-dimensional array of hybrid antennas consists of elliptical apertures combined with bowties in its minor axis. The plasmonic resonance frequency of the bowties is red-shifted with respect to the laser central frequency and thus mainly enhances the third harmonic spectrum at long wavelengths. The gold film between two neighboring elliptical apertures forms an hourglass-shaped structure, which acts as a "plasmonic lens" and thus strongly reinforces surface currents into a small area. This enhanced surface current produces a rotating magnetic field that deeply penetrates into the substrate. At resonant frequency, the magnetic field is further intensified by the bowties. The resonant frequency of the hourglass is blueshifted with respect to the laser central frequency. Consequently, it spectacularly extends the third harmonic spectrum toward short wavelengths. The resultant third harmonic signal ranges from 230 to 300 nm, much broader than the emission from a sapphire crystal. In addition, the concentration of surface current within the neck of the hourglass antenna results in a structural modification through laser ablation, producing sub-10 nm sharp metallic gaps. Moreover, after laser illumination the optical field hotspots are imprinted around the antennas, allowing us to confirm the subwavelength enhancement of the electric near-field intensity.
Organisation(s): QuantumFrontiers
Institute of Quantum Optics
PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation Across Disciplines
Institute of Materials Science
External Organisation(s): Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
University of Twente
Université Paris-Saclay
Type: Article
Journal: Nano Letters
Volume: 19
Pages: 4779-4786
No. of pages: 8
ISSN: 1530-6984
Publication date: 17.06.2019
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Bioengineering, Chemistry(all), Materials Science(all), Condensed Matter Physics, Mechanical Engineering
Electronic version(s): https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/files/121595810/acs.nanolett.9b02100.pdf (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b02100 (Access: Closed)

BibTeX

@article{b0dd4ba43c0345ebbb156f6db5c2ef0f,
title = "Generating Ultrabroadband Deep-UV Radiation and Sub-10 nm Gap by Hybrid-Morphology Gold Antennas",
abstract = "We experimentally investigate the interaction between hybrid-morphology gold optical antennas and a few-cycle Ti:sapphire laser up to ablative intensities, demonstrating rich nonlinear plasmonic effects and promising applications in coherent frequency upconversion and nanofabrication technology. The two-dimensional array of hybrid antennas consists of elliptical apertures combined with bowties in its minor axis. The plasmonic resonance frequency of the bowties is red-shifted with respect to the laser central frequency and thus mainly enhances the third harmonic spectrum at long wavelengths. The gold film between two neighboring elliptical apertures forms an hourglass-shaped structure, which acts as a {"}plasmonic lens{"} and thus strongly reinforces surface currents into a small area. This enhanced surface current produces a rotating magnetic field that deeply penetrates into the substrate. At resonant frequency, the magnetic field is further intensified by the bowties. The resonant frequency of the hourglass is blueshifted with respect to the laser central frequency. Consequently, it spectacularly extends the third harmonic spectrum toward short wavelengths. The resultant third harmonic signal ranges from 230 to 300 nm, much broader than the emission from a sapphire crystal. In addition, the concentration of surface current within the neck of the hourglass antenna results in a structural modification through laser ablation, producing sub-10 nm sharp metallic gaps. Moreover, after laser illumination the optical field hotspots are imprinted around the antennas, allowing us to confirm the subwavelength enhancement of the electric near-field intensity.",
keywords = "broadband deep-ultraviolet, laser ablation, nanoscale gaps, near-field mapping, Nonlinear plasmonics",
author = "Liping Shi and {Cardoso de Andrade}, {Jos{\'e} Ricardo} and {Tajalli Seifi}, Ayhan and Jiao Geng and Juemin Yi and Torsten Heidenblut and Segerink, {Frans B.} and Ihar Babushkin and Maria Kholodtsova and Hamed Merdji and Bert Bastiaens and Uwe Morgner and Milutin Kovacev",
note = "The authors thank funding supports from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (KO 3798/4-1) and from German Research Foundation under Germany{\textquoteright}s Excellence Strategy EXC-2123 and Germany{\textquoteright}s Excellence Strategy within the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD (EXC 2122, Project ID 390833453), Lower Saxony through “Quanten und Nanometrologie” (QUANOMET, Project Nanophotonik). H.M. acknowledges support from the PETACom FET Open H2020, support from the French ministry of research through the ANR grants 2014 “IPEX”, 2017 “PACHA”, the DGA RAPID grant “SWIM”, the LABEX “PALM” (ANR-10-LABX-0039-PALM) through he grants “Plasmon-X”, “STAMPS”, and “HILAC”. We acknowledge financial support from the French ASTRE program through the “NanoLight” grant.",
year = "2019",
month = jun,
day = "17",
doi = "10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b02100",
language = "English",
volume = "19",
pages = "4779--4786",
journal = "Nano Letters",
issn = "1530-6984",
publisher = "American Chemical Society",
number = "7",
}