1 research outputs found
Shaping, imaging and controlling plasmonic interference fields at buried interfaces
Filming and controlling plasmons at buried interfaces with nanometer (nm) and
femtosecond (fs) resolution has yet to be achieved and is critical for next
generation plasmonic/electronic devices. In this work, we use light to excite
and shape a plasmonic interference pattern at a buried metal-dielectric
interface in a nanostructured thin film. Plasmons are launched from a
photoexcited array of nanocavities and their propagation is filmed via
photon-induced near-field electron microscopy (PINEM). The resulting movie
directly captures the plasmon dynamics, allowing quantification of their group
velocity at approximately 0.3c, consistent with our theoretical predictions.
Furthermore, we show that the light polarization and nanocavity design can be
tailored to shape transient plasmonic gratings at the nanoscale. These results,
demonstrating dynamical imaging with PINEM, pave the way for the fs/nm
visualization and control of plasmonic fields in advanced heterostructures
based on novel 2D materials such as graphene, MoS, and ultrathin metal
films.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, 3 supplementary figure