All-Optical Control of a Single Plasmonic Nanoantenna–ITO Hybrid

• DOI: 10.1021/nl200901w
• Publication Date: 2011-05-04T12:34:07Z
• Authors: Martina Abb; Pablo Albella; Javier Aizpurua; Otto L. Muskens
• Keywords: Indium tin oxide; Picosecond; Nanophotonics

We demonstrate experimentally picosecond all-optical control of a single plasmonic nanoantenna embedded in indium tin oxide (ITO). identify response the antenna–ITO hybrid system, which is distinctly different from transient bleaching observed for gold antennas on nonconducting SiO2 substrate. Our experimental results can be explained by large free-carrier nonlinearity ITO, enhanced plasmon-induced hot-electron injection into conductive oxide. The combination tunable hybrids with nanoscale energy transfer mechanisms, as demonstrated here, opens path new ultrafast devices to produce nanoplasmonic switching and control.