Ultrafast spatiotemporal relaxation dynamics of excited electrons in a metal nanostructure detected by femtosecond-SNOM

doi:10.1364/OE.18.014232

Ultrafast spatiotemporal relaxation dynamics of excited electrons in a metal nanostructure detected by femtosecond-SNOM

Zhi Li, Song Yue, Jianjun Chen, and Qihuang Gong »View Author Affiliations

Optics Express, Vol. 18, Issue 13, pp. 14232-14237 (2010)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.18.014232

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Abstract

Ultrahigh spatiotemporal resolved pump-probe signal near a gold nano-slit is detected by femtosecond-SNOM. By employing two-color pump-probe configuration and probing at the interband transition wavelength of the gold, signal contributed by surface plasmon polariton is avoided and spatiotemporal evolvement of excited electrons is successfully observed. From the contrast decaying of the periodical distribution of the pump-probe signal, ultrafast diffusion of excited electrons with a time scale of a few hundred femtoseconds is clearly identified. For comparison, such phenomenon cannot be observed by the one-color pump-probe configuration.

OCIS Codes
(240.6680) Optics at surfaces : Surface plasmons
(320.7130) Ultrafast optics : Ultrafast processes in condensed matter, including semiconductors
(180.4243) Microscopy : Near-field microscopy

ToC Category:
Ultrafast Optics

History
Original Manuscript: May 5, 2010
Revised Manuscript: June 8, 2010
Manuscript Accepted: June 8, 2010
Published: June 17, 2010

Citation
Zhi Li, Song Yue, Jianjun Chen, and Qihuang Gong, "Ultrafast spatiotemporal relaxation dynamics of excited electrons in a metal nanostructure detected by femtosecond-SNOM," Opt. Express 18, 14232-14237 (2010)
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-18-13-14232

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References

H. Raether, Surface plasmons on Smooth and Rough Surfaces and on Gratings, (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1988).
W. L. Barnes, A. Dereux, and T. W. Ebbesen, “Surface plasmon subwavelength optics,” Nature 424(6950), 824–830 (2003). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
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A. Kubo, N. Pontius, and H. Petek, “Femtosecond microscopy of surface plasmon polariton wave packet evolution at the silver/vacuum interface,” Nano Lett. 7(2), 470–475 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
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B. A. Nechay, U. Siegner, M. Achermann, H. Bielefeldt, and U. Keller, “Femtosecond pump-probe near-field optical microscopy,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70(6), 2758–2764 (1999). [CrossRef]
B. A. Nechay, U. Siegner, F. Morier-Genoud, A. Schertel, and U. Keller, “Femtosecond near-field optical spectroscopy of implantation patterned semiconductors,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 74(1), 61–63 (1999). [CrossRef]
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C. K. Sun, F. Vallee, L. H. Acioli, E. P. Ippen, and J. G. Fujimoto, “Femtosecond-tunable measurement of electron thermalization in gold,” Phys. Rev. B 50(20), 15337–15348 (1994). [CrossRef]
C. K. Sun, F. Vallee, L. Acioli, E. P. Ippen, and J. G. Fujimoto, “Femtosecond investigation of electron thermalization in gold,” Phys. Rev. B 48(16), 12365–12368 (1993). [CrossRef]
S. D. Brorson, J. G. Fujimoto, and E. P. Ippen, “Femtosecond electronic heat-transport dynamics in thin gold films,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 59(17), 1962–1965 (1987). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
S. Smith, N. C. R. Holme, B. Orr, R. Kopelman, and T. Norris, “Ultrafast measurement in GaAs thin films using NSOM,” Ultramicroscopy 71(1-4), 213–223 (1998). [CrossRef]

Achermann, M.
Acioli, L.
Acioli, L. H.
Axt, V. M.
Barnes, W. L.
Bartal, G.
Ben-Ami, U.
Bielefeldt, H.
Brorson, S. D.
Dai, L.
Dereux, A.
Diamant, D.
Ebbesen, T. W.
Elsaesser, T.
Eshlaghi, S.
Fish, G.
Fujimoto, J. G.
Gladden, C.
Glanemann, M.
Guenther, T.
Holme, N. C. R.
Imura, K.
Ippen, E. P.
Katz, S.
Keller, U.
Kopelman, R.
Kubo, A.
Kuck, N.
Kuhn, T.
Lewis, A.
Lieberman, K.
Lienau, C.
Lubovsky, L.
Ma, R. M.
MacDonald, K. F.
Morier-Genoud, F.
Nagahara, T.
Nechay, B. A.
Norris, T.
Okamoto, H.
Orr, B.
Oulton, R. F.
Ozbay, E.
Petek, H.
Pontius, N.
Roth, M.
Saar, A.
Samson, Z. L.
Schertel, A.
Siegner, U.
Smith, S.
Sorger, V. J.
Stockman, M. I.
Sun, C. K.
Vallee, F.
Wieck, A. D.
Zentgraf, T.
Zhang, X.
Zheludev, N. I.

Appl. Phys. Lett.

B. A. Nechay, U. Siegner, F. Morier-Genoud, A. Schertel, and U. Keller, “Femtosecond near-field optical spectroscopy of implantation patterned semiconductors,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 74(1), 61–63 (1999). [CrossRef]

J. Phys. Chem. B

K. Imura, T. Nagahara, and H. Okamoto, “Imaging of surface plasmon and ultrafast dynamics in gold nanorods by near-field microscopy,” J. Phys. Chem. B 108(42), 16344–16347 (2004). [CrossRef]

Nano Lett.

A. Kubo, N. Pontius, and H. Petek, “Femtosecond microscopy of surface plasmon polariton wave packet evolution at the silver/vacuum interface,” Nano Lett. 7(2), 470–475 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Nat. Photonics

K. F. MacDonald, Z. L. Samson, M. I. Stockman, and N. I. Zheludev, “Ultrafast active plasmonics,” Nat. Photonics 3(1), 55–58 (2009). [CrossRef]

Nature

W. L. Barnes, A. Dereux, and T. W. Ebbesen, “Surface plasmon subwavelength optics,” Nature 424(6950), 824–830 (2003). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
R. F. Oulton, V. J. Sorger, T. Zentgraf, R. M. Ma, C. Gladden, L. Dai, G. Bartal, and X. Zhang, “Plasmon lasers at deep subwavelength scale,” Nature 461(7264), 629–632 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Phys. Rev. B

K. Imura and H. Okamoto, “Ultrafast photoinduced changes of eigenfunctions of localized plasmon modes in gold nanorods,” Phys. Rev. B 77(4), 041401 (2008). [CrossRef]
C. K. Sun, F. Vallee, L. H. Acioli, E. P. Ippen, and J. G. Fujimoto, “Femtosecond-tunable measurement of electron thermalization in gold,” Phys. Rev. B 50(20), 15337–15348 (1994). [CrossRef]
C. K. Sun, F. Vallee, L. Acioli, E. P. Ippen, and J. G. Fujimoto, “Femtosecond investigation of electron thermalization in gold,” Phys. Rev. B 48(16), 12365–12368 (1993). [CrossRef]

Phys. Rev. Lett.

S. D. Brorson, J. G. Fujimoto, and E. P. Ippen, “Femtosecond electronic heat-transport dynamics in thin gold films,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 59(17), 1962–1965 (1987). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
T. Guenther, C. Lienau, T. Elsaesser, M. Glanemann, V. M. Axt, T. Kuhn, S. Eshlaghi, and A. D. Wieck, “Coherent nonlinear optical response of single quantum dots studied by ultrafast near-field spectroscopy,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 89(5), 057401 (2002). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Rev. Sci. Instrum.

B. A. Nechay, U. Siegner, M. Achermann, H. Bielefeldt, and U. Keller, “Femtosecond pump-probe near-field optical microscopy,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70(6), 2758–2764 (1999). [CrossRef]

Scanning

A. Lewis, U. Ben-Ami, N. Kuck, G. Fish, D. Diamant, L. Lubovsky, K. Lieberman, S. Katz, A. Saar, and M. Roth, “NSOM the fourth dimension: integrating nanometric spatial and femtosecond time resolution,” Scanning 17, 3–13 (1995). [CrossRef]

Science

E. Ozbay, “Plasmonics: merging photonics and electronics at nanoscale dimensions,” Science 311(5758), 189–193 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Ultramicroscopy

S. Smith, N. C. R. Holme, B. Orr, R. Kopelman, and T. Norris, “Ultrafast measurement in GaAs thin films using NSOM,” Ultramicroscopy 71(1-4), 213–223 (1998). [CrossRef]

Other

H. Raether, Surface plasmons on Smooth and Rough Surfaces and on Gratings, (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1988).

2009, Oulton, Nature
2009, MacDonald, Nat. Photonics
2008, Imura, Phys. Rev. B
2007, Kubo, Nano Lett.
2006, Ozbay, Science
2004, Imura, J. Phys. Chem. B
2003, Barnes, Nature
2002, Guenther, Phys. Rev. Lett.
1999, Nechay, Rev. Sci. Instrum.
1999, Nechay, Appl. Phys. Lett.
1998, Smith, Ultramicroscopy
1995, Lewis, Scanning
1994, Sun, Phys. Rev. B
1993, Sun, Phys. Rev. B
1987, Brorson, Phys. Rev. Lett.

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