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arXiv · 1509.03182

Ultrafast Surface Plasmonic Switch in Non-Plasmonic Metals

E. Bévillon·J. P. Colombier·V. Recoules·H. Zhang·C. Li·R. Stoian
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Abstract

We demonstrate that ultrafast carrier excitation can drastically affect electronic structures and induce brief surface plasmonic response in non-plasmonic metals, potentially creating a plasmonic switch. Using first-principles molecular dynamics and Kubo-Greenwood formalism for laser-excited tungsten we show that carrier heating mobilizes d electrons into collective inter and intraband transitions leading to a sign flip in the imaginary optical conductivity, activating plasmonic properties for the initial non-plasmonic phase. The drive for the optical evolution can be visualized as an increasingly damped quasi-resonance at visible frequencies for pumping carriers across a chemical potential located in a d-band pseudo-gap with energy-dependent degree of occupation. The subsequent evolution of optical indices for the excited material is confirmed by time-resolved ultrafast ellipsometry. The large optical tunability extends the existence spectral domain of surface plasmons in ranges typically claimed in laser self-organized nanostructuring. Non-equilibrium heating is thus a strong factor for engineering optical control of evanescent excitation waves, particularly important in laser nanostructuring strategies.

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E. Bévillon, J. P. Colombier, V. Recoules, H. Zhang, C. Li, R. Stoian. 2015-09-10. Ultrafast Surface Plasmonic Switch in Non-Plasmonic Metals. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.93.165416

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