Abstract
Surface polaritons comprise a wealth of light–matter interactions with deep sub-wavelength scale confinement of electromagnetic modes. However, their nanoscale localized dissipation and thermalization processes are not readily accessible experimentally. Here, we introduce photothermal force microscopy to image surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in monolayer graphene through their non-radiative SiO2 substrate dissipation. We demonstrate the real-space SPP imaging via photo-induced atomic force detection, and from comparison with scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy imaging attribute the force response to substrate dissipation-enhanced thermal expansion. This work illustrates that nano-optical tip–sample induced dissipative forces facilitate a direct mechanical detection of surface polariton interactions with monolayer sensitivity.
Highlights
S (SPhPs) in hexagonal boron nitride,13 exciton polaritons in vdW transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs),14 and surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs)/surface phonon polariton (SPhP) modes in heterostructures such as hBN/graphene.15 By providing the necessary high optical momentum in their near-field, sharp metallic scanning probe tips can simultaneously launch and probe these surface polaritons (SPs) modes and have enabled rich spectroscopic insight into their nano-optical properties, propagation, local confinement, and interactions
We demonstrate the real-space SPP imaging via photo-induced atomic force detection, and from comparison with scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy imaging attribute the force response to substrate dissipation-enhanced thermal expansion
We demonstrate real-space imaging of SPPs in monolayer graphene on silicon dioxide (SiO2) through their dissipation and substrate-enhanced thermal expansion detected via photothermal atomic-force microscope infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR)
Summary
S (SPhPs) in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN),13 exciton polaritons in vdW transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs),14 and SPP/SPhP modes in heterostructures such as hBN/graphene.15 By providing the necessary high optical momentum in their near-field, sharp metallic scanning probe tips can simultaneously launch and probe these SP modes and have enabled rich spectroscopic insight into their nano-optical properties, propagation, local confinement, and interactions.9–11,15–17. We introduce photothermal force microscopy to image surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in monolayer graphene through their non-radiative SiO2 substrate dissipation.
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