journal article·2025Open access

Quantitative comparison of local field enhancement from tip-apex and plasmonic nanofocusing excitation via plasmon-assisted field emission resonances

Chenfang Lin, Jie Li, Guoao Li, Wenjie Luo, Shuyi Liu, Adnan Hammud, Yang Xia, Anlian Pan, Martin Wolf, Melanie Müller, Takashi Kumagai

Nanoscale· Volume 17· Issue 12

Abstract

Plasmonic nanofocusing via off-site excitation offers a promising approach to minimize background light scattering and enhance excitation efficiency in tip-enhanced optical spectroscopy. However, a comprehensive understanding of its effectiveness compared to direct tip-apex excitation remains limited. Here we introduce plasmon-assisted field emission resonances as a practicable approach for quantitative evaluation of the local field enhancement in a scanning-tunneling-microscope junction via off-site excitation compared to direct tip-apex excitation. By using single-groove pyramidal tips suitable for multi-wavelength excitations, we find that the near-field intensity is approximately 3.8 and 1.7 times higher for off-site excitation than for direct apex excitation at excitation wavelengths of 780 nm and 633 nm, respectively. These results are further supported by numerical electromagnetic field simulations. Our findings demonstrate the effective implementation of plasmonic nanofocusing in low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, paving the way for more precise and background-free tip-enhanced optical spectroscopy at the atomic scale.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research · Near-Field Optical Microscopy · Gold and Silver Nanoparticles Synthesis and Applications

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Key Laboratory for Micro-Nano Physics and Technology of Hunan Province, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan Institute of Optoelectronic Integration, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, 410082, Changsha, China

Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074 China

Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany

School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan Normal University, 410081, Changsha, China

Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany

Institute for Molecular Science, 38 NishigoNaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan

The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan

Funding

Japan Science and Technology Agency · National Basic Research Program of China · National Natural Science Foundation of China · Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province · Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

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