Interference effects, such as Fano resonances, in typically lossy plasmonic excitations can give rise to long radiative lifetimes, combining the advantages that surface-plasmon modes offer in terms of strong nanoscale light confinement with narrow spectral linewidths. Such excitations are promising for nanophotonic applications such as sensing, lasing and switching. Their coupling to incident radiation, also known as radiance, determines their optical properties. Olivier Martin, Peter Nordlander and colleagues now show that the radiance of plasmonic modes can be classified into three distinct regimes. In the weak coupling regime, the linewidth exhibits remarkable sensitivity to the dielectric environment. The researchers show that geometrical displacements of the order of a few ångströms could be detected optically by measuring the plasmonic radiance. In the intermediate regime, the electromagnetic energy stored in the mode is maximal, with large electric-field enhancements that can be exploited for surface-enhanced spectroscopy. In the strong coupling regime, the interaction results in hybridized modes with tunable energies.
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Tsakmakidis, K. Plasmon radiance. Nature Mater 12, 282 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3614
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3614
