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Bowman AR, Rodríguez Echarri A, Kiani F, Iyikanat F, Tsoulos TV, Cox JD, Sundararaman R, García de Abajo FJ, Tagliabue G. Quantum-mechanical effects in photoluminescence from thin crystalline gold films. LIGHT, SCIENCE & APPLICATIONS 2024; 13:91. [PMID: 38637531 PMCID: PMC11026419 DOI: 10.1038/s41377-024-01408-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
Luminescence constitutes a unique source of insight into hot carrier processes in metals, including those in plasmonic nanostructures used for sensing and energy applications. However, being weak in nature, metal luminescence remains poorly understood, its microscopic origin strongly debated, and its potential for unraveling nanoscale carrier dynamics largely unexploited. Here, we reveal quantum-mechanical effects in the luminescence emanating from thin monocrystalline gold flakes. Specifically, we present experimental evidence, supported by first-principles simulations, to demonstrate its photoluminescence origin (i.e., radiative emission from electron/hole recombination) when exciting in the interband regime. Our model allows us to identify changes to the measured gold luminescence due to quantum-mechanical effects as the gold film thickness is reduced. Excitingly, such effects are observable in the luminescence signal from flakes up to 40 nm in thickness, associated with the out-of-plane discreteness of the electronic band structure near the Fermi level. We qualitatively reproduce the observations with first-principles modeling, thus establishing a unified description of luminescence in gold monocrystalline flakes and enabling its widespread application as a probe of carrier dynamics and light-matter interactions in this material. Our study paves the way for future explorations of hot carriers and charge-transfer dynamics in a multitude of material systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan R Bowman
- Laboratory of Nanoscience for Energy Technologies (LNET), STI, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Alvaro Rodríguez Echarri
- ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain
- MBI-Max-Born-Institut, Berlin, Germany
| | - Fatemeh Kiani
- Laboratory of Nanoscience for Energy Technologies (LNET), STI, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Fadil Iyikanat
- ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain
| | - Ted V Tsoulos
- Laboratory of Nanoscience for Energy Technologies (LNET), STI, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Joel D Cox
- POLIMA-Center for Polariton-driven Light-Matter Interactions, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark
- Danish Institute for Advanced Study, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark
| | - Ravishankar Sundararaman
- Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA
- Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA
| | - F Javier García de Abajo
- ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain
- ICREA-Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Giulia Tagliabue
- Laboratory of Nanoscience for Energy Technologies (LNET), STI, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
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2
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Pan C, Tong Y, Qian H, Krasavin AV, Li J, Zhu J, Zhang Y, Cui B, Li Z, Wu C, Liu L, Li L, Guo X, Zayats AV, Tong L, Wang P. Large area single crystal gold of single nanometer thickness for nanophotonics. Nat Commun 2024; 15:2840. [PMID: 38565552 PMCID: PMC10987654 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47133-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Two-dimensional single crystal metals, in which the behavior of highly confined optical modes is intertwined with quantum phenomena, are highly sought after for next-generation technologies. Here, we report large area (>104 μm2), single crystal two-dimensional gold flakes (2DGFs) with thicknesses down to a single nanometer level, employing an atomic-level precision chemical etching approach. The decrease of the thickness down to such scales leads to the quantization of the electronic states, endowing 2DGFs with quantum-confinement-augmented optical nonlinearity, particularly leading to more than two orders of magnitude enhancement in harmonic generation compared with their thick polycrystalline counterparts. The nanometer-scale thickness and single crystal quality makes 2DGFs a promising platform for realizing plasmonic nanostructures with nanoscale optical confinement. This is demonstrated by patterning 2DGFs into nanoribbon arrays, exhibiting strongly confined near infrared plasmonic resonances with high quality factors. The developed 2DGFs provide an emerging platform for nanophotonic research and open up opportunities for applications in ultrathin plasmonic, optoelectronic and quantum devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenxinyu Pan
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Yuanbiao Tong
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Haoliang Qian
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Alexey V Krasavin
- Department of Physics and London Centre for Nanotechnology, King's College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK
| | - Jialin Li
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Jiajie Zhu
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Yiyun Zhang
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Bowen Cui
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Zhiyong Li
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
- Jiaxing Key Laboratory of Photonic Sensing & Intelligent Imaging, Jiaxing, 314000, China
- Intelligent Optics & Photonics Research Center, Jiaxing Research Institute Zhejiang University, Jiaxing, 314000, China
| | - Chenming Wu
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Lufang Liu
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Linjun Li
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
- Jiaxing Key Laboratory of Photonic Sensing & Intelligent Imaging, Jiaxing, 314000, China
- Intelligent Optics & Photonics Research Center, Jiaxing Research Institute Zhejiang University, Jiaxing, 314000, China
| | - Xin Guo
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
- Jiaxing Key Laboratory of Photonic Sensing & Intelligent Imaging, Jiaxing, 314000, China
- Intelligent Optics & Photonics Research Center, Jiaxing Research Institute Zhejiang University, Jiaxing, 314000, China
| | - Anatoly V Zayats
- Department of Physics and London Centre for Nanotechnology, King's College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK.
| | - Limin Tong
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, 030006, China.
| | - Pan Wang
- Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
- Jiaxing Key Laboratory of Photonic Sensing & Intelligent Imaging, Jiaxing, 314000, China.
- Intelligent Optics & Photonics Research Center, Jiaxing Research Institute Zhejiang University, Jiaxing, 314000, China.
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Sivan Y, Un IW, Kalyan I, Lin KQ, Lupton JM, Bange S. Crossover from Nonthermal to Thermal Photoluminescence from Metals Excited by Ultrashort Light Pulses. ACS NANO 2023. [PMID: 37289597 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c01016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Photoluminescence from metal nanostructures following intense ultrashort illumination is a fundamental aspect of light-matter interactions. Surprisingly, many of its basic characteristics are under ongoing debate. Here, we resolve many of these debates by providing a comprehensive theoretical framework that describes this phenomenon and support it by an experimental confirmation. Specifically, we identify aspects of the emission that are characteristic to either nonthermal or thermal emission, in particular, differences in the spectral and electric field dependence of these two contributions to the emission. Overall, nonthermal emission is characteristic of the early stages of light emission, while the later stages show thermal characteristics. The former dominate only for moderately high illumination intensities for which the electron temperature reached after thermalization remains close to room temperature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yonatan Sivan
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva 8410501, Israel
| | - Ieng Wai Un
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva 8410501, Israel
| | - Imon Kalyan
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva 8410501, Israel
| | - Kai-Qiang Lin
- Chemistry of Solid Surfaces Department of Chemistry, Xiamen University, 361005 Xiamen, China
| | - John M Lupton
- Institut für Experimentelle und Angewandte Physik, Universität Regensburg, 93051 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Sebastian Bange
- Institut für Experimentelle und Angewandte Physik, Universität Regensburg, 93051 Regensburg, Germany
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Extremely confined gap plasmon modes: when nonlocality matters. Nat Commun 2022; 13:3105. [PMID: 35661728 PMCID: PMC9166740 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30737-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Historically, the field of plasmonics has been relying on the framework of classical electrodynamics, with the local-response approximation of material response being applied even when dealing with nanoscale metallic structures. However, when the confinement of electromagnetic radiation approaches atomic scales, mesoscopic effects are anticipated to become observable, e.g., those associated with the nonlocal electrodynamic surface response of the electron gas. Here, we investigate nonlocal effects in propagating gap surface plasmon modes in ultrathin metal–dielectric–metal planar waveguides, exploiting monocrystalline gold flakes separated by atomic-layer-deposited aluminum oxide. We use scanning near-field optical microscopy to directly access the near-field of such confined gap plasmon modes and measure their dispersion relation via their complex-valued propagation constants. We compare our experimental findings with the predictions of the generalized nonlocal optical response theory to unveil signatures of nonlocal damping, which becomes appreciable for few-nanometer-sized dielectric gaps. When approaching atomic-scale confinement of the electromagnetic radiation nonlocal effects are not negligible. Here the authors approach that regime, probing extremely confined gap plasmon modes by means of scanning near-field optical microscopy, and suggesting that quantum nonlocal corrections should be taken into account.
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Yu K, Yang Y, Wang J, Hartland GV, Wang GP. Nanoparticle-Fluid Interactions at Ultrahigh Acoustic Vibration Frequencies Studied by Femtosecond Time-Resolved Microscopy. ACS NANO 2021; 15:1833-1840. [PMID: 33448792 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c09840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Liquid viscous and viscoelastic properties are very important parameters in determining rheological phenomena. Mechanical resonators with extremely high vibrational frequencies interacting with simple liquids present a wide range of applications from mass sensing to biomechanics. However, a lack of understanding of fluid viscoelasticity greatly hinders the utilization of mechanical resonators. In this paper, the high frequency acoustic vibrations of Au nanoplates with large quality factors were used to probe fluid properties (water, glycerol, and their mixtures) through time-resolved pump-probe microscopy experiments. For water, viscous damping was clearly observed, where an inviscid effect was only detected previously. Adding glycerol to the water increases the fluid viscosity and leads to a bulk viscoelastic response in the system. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with a continuum mechanics model for the damping of nanoplate breathing modes in liquids, confirming the experimental observation of viscoelastic effects. In addition to the breathing modes of the nanoplates, Brillouin oscillations are observed in the experiments. Analysis of the frequency of the Brillouin oscillations also shows the presence of viscoelastic effects in the high-viscosity solvents. The detection and analysis of viscous damping in liquids is important not only for understanding the energy dissipation mechanisms and providing the mechanical relaxation times of the liquids but also for developing applications of nanomechanical resonators for fluid environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kuai Yu
- Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Yang Yang
- Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Junzhong Wang
- Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Gregory V Hartland
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States
| | - Guo Ping Wang
- Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
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