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Giant optomechanical spring effect in plasmonic nano- and picocavities probed by surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

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Authors

Jakob, Lukas A 
Deacon, William M 
Pavlenko, Elena 

Abstract

Molecular vibrations couple to visible light only weakly, have small mutual interactions, and hence are often ignored for non-linear optics. Here we show the extreme confinement provided by plasmonic nano- and pico-cavities can sufficiently enhance optomechanical coupling so that intense laser illumination drastically softens the molecular bonds. This optomechanical pumping regime produces strong distortions of the Raman vibrational spectrum related to giant vibrational frequency shifts from an optical spring effect which is hundred-fold larger than in traditional cavities. The theoretical simulations accounting for the multimodal nanocavity response and near-field-induced collective phonon interactions are consistent with the experimentally-observed non-linear behavior exhibited in the Raman spectra of nanoparticle-on-mirror constructs illuminated by ultrafast laser pulses. Further, we show indications that plasmonic picocavities allow us to access the optical spring effect in single molecules with continuous illumination. Driving the collective phonon in the nanocavity paves the way to control reversible bond softening, as well as irreversible chemistry.

Description

Keywords

5108 Quantum Physics, 51 Physical Sciences, Bioengineering, Nanotechnology

Journal Title

Nat Commun

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-1723
2041-1723

Volume Title

14

Publisher

Nature Research
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (2275079)
EPSRC (2275079)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/N016920/1)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L027151/1)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L015978/1)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) (829067)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Research Infrastructures (RI) (861950)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) ERC (883703)
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