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Polarization contrast scattering spectroscopy of individual metal nanoantennas

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Abstract

Metal nanoantennas give rise to strongly localized and enhanced electric fields. The enhancement is largest at the plasmon resonance, which, therefore, needs to be characterized. Here, we use polarization contrast microscopy for imaging and spectroscopy of single metal nanoantennas. The method relies on the strong suppression of incident linearly polarized light with a cross-polarized analyzer in the detection path and exploits the distinct polarization dependence of the plasmonic response of the antennas. The technique enables an easy-to-use background-free measurement of plasmon resonances of single metal nanoantennas in the visible and infrared spectral range.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SPP 1391). We thank Harald Fuchs for granting access to the metal evaporator.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physics and Center for Nanotechnology, University of Münster, 48149, Münster, Germany

    Torsten Stiehm, Johannes Kern, Robert Schmidt, Steffen Michaelis de Vasconcellos & Rudolf Bratschitsch

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  1. Torsten Stiehm
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  2. Johannes Kern
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  3. Robert Schmidt
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  4. Steffen Michaelis de Vasconcellos
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  5. Rudolf Bratschitsch
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Correspondence to Rudolf Bratschitsch.

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Stiehm, T., Kern, J., Schmidt, R. et al. Polarization contrast scattering spectroscopy of individual metal nanoantennas. Appl. Phys. B 123, 150 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-017-6727-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-017-6727-6

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