Electrical control of the nonlinear properties of plasmonic nanostructures
This work brings nano-electronics and nano-photonics technologies together to create an electron- plasmon device whose linear and nonlinear optical properties are electrically controlled. Here, we present the first demonstration of nonlinear photoluminescence modulation by electrical means in an uncluttered configuration. To this purpose, plasmonic nanoantennas are interfaced with elec- trical connections inducing localized regions of electron accumulation and depletion and therefore affecting the optical response. Additionally, a complete analysis of the nonlinear photoluminescence in plasmonic nanowires is carried out. The delocalization and transport of nonlinearities provided by such st…
Electrostatic Control over Optically Pumped Hot Electrons in Optical Gap Antennas
International audience; We investigate the influence of a static electric field on the incoherent nonlinear response of an unloaded electrically contacted nanoscale optical gap antenna. Upon excitation by a tightly focused near-infrared femtosecond laser beam, a transient elevated temperature of the electronic distribution results in a broadband emission of nonlinear photoluminescence (N-PL). We demonstrate a modulation of the yield at which driving photons are frequency up-converted by means of an external control of the electronic surface charge density. We show that the electron temperature and consequently the N-PL intensity can be enhanced or reduced depending on the command polarity a…
Wave-vector analysis of plasmon-assisted distributed nonlinear photoluminescence along Au nanowires
We report a quantitative analysis of the wavevector diagram emitted by nonlinear photoluminescence generated by a tightly focused pulsed laser beam and distributed along Au nanowire via the mediation of surface plasmon polaritions. The nonlinear photoluminescence is locally excited at key locations along the nanowire in order to understand the different contributions constituting the emission pattern measured in a conjugate Fourier plane of the microscope. Polarization-resolved measurements reveal that the nanowire preferentially emits nonlinear photoluminescence polarized transverse to the long axis at close to the detection limit wavevectors with a small azimuthal spread in comparison to …
Modal and wavelength conversions in plasmonic nanowires
We show that plasmonic nanowire-nanoparticle systems can perform nonlinear wavelength and modal conversions and potentially serve as building blocks for signal multiplexing and novel trafficking modalities. When a surface plasmon excited by a pulsed laser beam propagates in a nanowire, it generates a localized broadband nonlinear continuum at the nanowire surface as well as at active locations defined by sites where nanoparticles are absorbed (enhancement sites). The local response may couple to new sets of propagating modes enabling a complex routing of optical signals through modal and spectral conversions. Different aspects influencing the optical signal conversions are presented, includ…
Spatial Distribution of the Nonlinear Photoluminescence in Au Nanowires
When gold nanowires are excited with a tightly focused femtosecond laser a distributed nonlinear photoluminescence (N-PL) develops throughout the entire structure. A complete spaced-resolved analysis of the spectral signature of the nanowire nonlinear response is carried out to understand the origin of the distributed nonlinear response. We discuss various mechanisms to explain the experimental data and unambiguously demonstrate that the spatial and spectral extension of the N-PL in the nanowire are mainly dictated by the propagation of a surface plasmon excited at the pump wavelength. We also present experimental signature of near-field excitation of a broadband continuum of surface plasmo…