Intrinsic luminescence blinking from plasmonic nanojunctions

Wen Chen, Philippe Roelli, Aqeel Ahmed, Sachin Verlekar, Huatian Hu, Karla Banjac, Magalí Lingenfelder, Tobias J. Kippenberg, Giulia Tagliabue and Christophe Galland ()
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Wen Chen: Laboratory of Quantum and Nano-Optics
Philippe Roelli: Laboratory of Quantum and Nano-Optics
Aqeel Ahmed: Laboratory of Quantum and Nano-Optics
Sachin Verlekar: Laboratory of Quantum and Nano-Optics
Huatian Hu: Wuhan University
Karla Banjac: Max Planck-EPFL Laboratory for Molecular Nanoscience
Magalí Lingenfelder: Max Planck-EPFL Laboratory for Molecular Nanoscience
Tobias J. Kippenberg: Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements
Giulia Tagliabue: Laboratory of Nanoscience for Energy Technologies
Christophe Galland: Laboratory of Quantum and Nano-Optics

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Plasmonic nanojunctions, consisting of adjacent metal structures with nanometre gaps, can support localised plasmon resonances that boost light matter interactions and concentrate electromagnetic fields at the nanoscale. In this regime, the optical response of the system is governed by poorly understood dynamical phenomena at the frontier between the bulk, molecular and atomic scales. Here, we report ubiquitous spectral fluctuations in the intrinsic light emission from photo-excited gold nanojunctions, which we attribute to the light-induced formation of domain boundaries and quantum-confined emitters inside the noble metal. Our data suggest that photoexcited carriers and gold adatom - molecule interactions play key roles in triggering luminescence blinking. Surprisingly, this internal restructuring of the metal has no measurable impact on the Raman signal and scattering spectrum of the plasmonic cavity. Our findings demonstrate that metal luminescence offers a valuable proxy to investigate atomic fluctuations in plasmonic cavities, complementary to other optical and electrical techniques.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22679-y

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