Opto-mechanical control of flexible plasmonic materials

Abstract

Research interest on materials and methods to control the nanoscale response of resonant nanostructures is relevant for the potential application in tunable and reconfigurable devices. Typical approaches promote the interplay between external macroscale stimuli (mechanic, thermal, acoustic, electric, and chemical) and plasmonic systems to achieve nanoscale effects. In plasmo-mechanics, an external mechanic strain applied to a flexible substrate is employed to induce plasmonic coupling between neighbouring Au particles. In this contribution, we report on a comprehensive numerical study able to predict strain-related phenomena in a plasmonic system made of different uniform distributions of metallic nanoparticles immobilized on a flexible elastomeric tape. Results evidence how the plasmo-mechanic control of the system depends on external parameters like incident light polarization, nanoparticle distance, and distribution arrangement.