We studied the influence of nanosteps on signal intensity in gap-mode tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). A benzenethiol monolayer adsorbed on an Au substrate was investigated. The correlation between the TERS signal and the local topography on the substrate shows that a 2 nm high sharp step on the Au surface can significantly increase the enhancement. Furthermore, theoretical models were built, and the numerical simulation results were consistent with our experimental results. The findings provide evidence that nanoscale roughness can play a crucial role in the "hot sites" corresponding to single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).
We present a systematic numerical investigation of conical metal tips which are commonly used in tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). Different from previous studies, we focus on how the tip length and the illumination condition influence the local field enhancement at the tip apex, and provide a useful reference for real experiments. In particular, we show that the type of illumination has a dramatic influence on the field enhancement: a localized illumination spot -as used in experiments -producing a very different response than a plane wave illumination -as usually used in previous models. Also, the effect of the different geometrical parameters, such as the sharpness of the tip apex and the cone angle, provides guidance to optimize the tip design. Finally, we investigate the influence of the substrate and compare numerical data with results deduced from a simplified model, finding good agreement. This brings new insights into the enhancement mechanism of TERS.
It is shown that graphene exhibits strong polarization-dependent optical absorption under total internal reflection. Compared with universal absorbance of 2.3%, larger absorption was observed in monolayer, bilayer, and few-layer graphenes for transverse electric (TE) wave under total internal reflection. Our result indicates that reflectance ratio of transverse magnetic wave to TE waves can easily provide the information of number of graphene layers. Furthermore, the enhanced light-graphene coupling in a wide spectral range will be great potential in many applications such as photodetector, photovoltaics, and optical sensor.
We investigate the optical forces acting on a metallic nanoparticle when the nanoparticle is introduced within a photonic nanojet (PNJ). Optical forces at resonance and off-resonance conditions of the microcylinder or nanoparticle are investigated. Under proper polarization conditions, the whispering gallery mode can be excited in the microcylinder, even at off resonance provided that scattering from the nanoparticle is strong enough. The optical forces are enhanced at resonance either of the single microcylinder or of the nanoparticle with respect to the forces under off-resonant illuminations. We found that the optical forces acting on the nanoparticle depend strongly on the dielectric permittivity of the nanoparticle, as well as on the intensity and the beam width of the PNJ. Hence, metallic sub-wavelength nanoparticle can be efficiently trapped by PNJs. Furthermore, the PNJ's attractive force can be simply changed to a repulsive force by varying the polarization of the incident beam. The changed sign of the force is related to the particle's polarizability and the excitation of localized surface plasmons in the nanoparticle.
Antenna-based near-field optical microscopy and spectroscopy makes use of locally enhanced optical fields created near laser-irradiated metal nanostructures acting as local probes. Using threedimensional simulations based on the finite element method we study the electromagnetic fields near various optical antennas and we optimize their geometry in order to bring out a strong enhancement in a selected frequency range. Our results provide clear guidelines for the fabrication of efficient antenna structures and for improving the sensitivity of current near-field microscopy schemes.
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