Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a tunable nanoantenna that may have applications in plasmonic-based optomechanical systems in which plasmonic field enhancement can actuate mechanical motion.To achieve optical properties of select antennas, the researchers took a nanoarray structure that was already fabricated and further reconfigure the plasmonic. This allows them to decide after fabrication how they want the nanostructure to modify light. The system is a metal, pillar-bowtie nanoantenna (p-BNA) array template on glass pillars (or posts).The project demonstrated electron-beam based manipulation of nanoparticles an order of magnitude larger than previously possible using a simple SEM operating at only a fraction of the electron energies of previous work.It also demonstrated that a standard scanning electron microscope can be used to deform individual p-BNA structures or groups of p-BNAs within a sub-array. The researchers said the importance of this work is three-fold: It enables tuning of the plasmonic response of the nanoantennas down to the level of a single nanoantenna (about 250 nanometers across); it could lead to unique, spatially addressable nanophotonic devices; and it provides a platform for studying mechanical, electromagnetic, and thermal phenomena in a nanoscale system.
Source: UIUC
