Spontaneous and stimulated electron-photon interactions in nanoscale plasmonic near fields

Matthias Liebtrau; Murat Sivis; Armin Feist; Hugo Lourenço-Martins; Nicolas Pazos-Pérez; Ramon A. Alvarez-Puebla; F. Javier García de Abajo; Albert Polman; Claus Ropers

doi:10.1038/s41377-021-00511-y

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Spontaneous and stimulated electron-photon interactions in nanoscale plasmonic near fields

Articles

- Spontaneous and stimulated electron-photon interactions in nanoscale plasmonic near fields
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 10, Issue 5, Pages: 867-880(2021)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Center for Nanophotonics, AMOLF, 1098 XG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  2.4th Physical Institute-Solids and Nanostructures, University of Göttingen, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
  3.Max Plank Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
  4.Department of Physical Chemistry and EMaS, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43007, Tarragona, Spain
  5.ICREA-Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, 08010, Barcelona, Spain
  6.ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08860, Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain
- Author bio：
  
  Matthias Liebtrau (m.liebtrau@amolf.nl)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-021-00511-y
  CLC：
- Published：31 May 2021，
  
  Published Online：15 April 2021，
  
  Received：11 September 2020，
  
  Revised：01 March 2021，
  
  Accepted：12 March 2021
- Accepted：
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Liebtrau, M. et al. Spontaneous and stimulated electron-photon interactions in nanoscale plasmonic near fields. Light: Science & Applications, 10, 867-880 (2021).
DOI：

Liebtrau, M. et al. Spontaneous and stimulated electron-photon interactions in nanoscale plasmonic near fields. Light: Science & Applications, 10, 867-880 (2021). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-021-00511-y.

摘要

Abstract

The interplay between free electrons

light

and matter offers unique prospects for space

time

and energy resolved optical material characterization

structured light generation

and quantum information processing. Here

we study the nanoscale features of spontaneous and stimulated electron-photon interactions mediated by localized surface plasmon resonances at the tips of a gold nanostar using electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS)

cathodoluminescence spectroscopy (CL)

and photon-induced near-field electron microscopy (PINEM). Supported by numerical electromagnetic boundary-element method (BEM) calculations

we show that the different coupling mechanisms probed by EELS

and PINEM feature the same spatial dependence on the electric field distribution of the tip modes. However

the electron-photon interaction strength is found to vary with the incident electron velocity

as determined by the spatial Fourier transform of the electric near-field component parallel to the electron trajectory. For the tightly confined plasmonic tip resonances

our calculations suggest an optimum coupling velocity at electron energies as low as a few keV. Our results are discussed in the context of more complex geometries supporting multiple modes with spatial and spectral overlap. We provide fundamental insights into spontaneous and stimulated electron-light-matter interactions with key implications for research on (quantum) coherent optical phenomena at the nanoscale.

关键词

Keywords

references

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