Extreme Plasmonics: Confining light to individual atoms, molecules and bond vibrations

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• Rohit Chikkaraddy (University of Cambridge)
• Wednesday 26 May 2021, 13:00-14:00
• https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/82206584177?pwd=cmpaMEp3VndQd3RrdTVPVHlQYVU3UT09.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr Miguel Navarro-Cia.

Zoom Meeting ID: 822 0658 4177

It has long been thought that light cannot be confined into volumes smaller than its wavelength due to the limit set by diffraction. Negative index materials such as metal nanoparticles, however, support quasiparticles called surface plasmons which trap light at metal-dielectric interfaces allowing us to ‘see’ the nanoworld. Extreme confinement of light can be achieved by coupling surface plasmons between two metallic nanostructures spaced a few nanometres apart. In this talk, I will show the confinement of light down to 1nm3 approaching quantum limits. This is achieved with a robust optical cavity formed by placing a metal nanoparticle on mirror coated with a monolayer of molecules. The confined optical field in the gap amplifies the local density of states and supports enhanced light-matter coupling at room temperature and ambient conditions. I will also show how these unique features now enable strong coupling with electronic states of molecules, Purcell-enhanced emission and optomechanics with single-bond vibrations, which are considered impossible to achieve with dielectric systems. I will further show the applications of extreme nano-gap optics providing potential lead in single-photon detectors for mid-infrared light and sensing dynamic topology of cell membranes with sub-nm resolution.

This talk is part of the Metamaterials Research Group Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Bham Talks
• Metamaterials Research Group Seminars
• What's on in Physics?
• https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/82206584177?pwd=cmpaMEp3VndQd3RrdTVPVHlQYVU3UT09

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