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Physics Seminar

Plasmonic nanocavities and molecules

Speaker: Dr Angela Demetriadou (University of Birmingham)
Date: Wednesday 20 January 2021
Time: 15:00 in UK
Venue: Zoom

Plasmons are excited in metallic nanostructures and have the ability to enhance light intensity by several orders of magnitudes. Due to this property, they have been extensively used for sensing applications. Recently, there has been a renewed interest to couple and dress quantum emitters (such as quantum dots, dye molecules etc) with plasmons. The aim is to generate new photonic platforms for exploring light-matter interactions. The highlight so far has been the demonstration of single molecule strong coupling with plasmons at room temperature [1]. In my talk, I will briefly introduce plasmons and give a quick overview of the most recent work in the field of Quantum Plasmonics. I will then explain the plasmon properties that allow strong coupling at room temperature and demonstrate the unique properties of nano-cavities [2,3]. I will present my work that focuses on understanding the photonic modes in plasmonic nanocavities [4], the Rabi oscillations of emitters with plasmonic nano-cavities, and their complex coupling with multiple photonic modes of different character [5]. If time permits, I will discuss how one can access specific chemical bonds within a single molecule using plasmons [6].

[1] Chikkaraddy, R., de Nijs B., et al. Nature, 535, 127 (2016)
[2] Kongsuwan, N., Demetriadou A., et al., ACS Photonics, 5, 186 (2018)
[3] Mertens J., Demetriadou A., et al., Nano Letters, 16, 5605 (2016)
[4] Kongsuwan N. , Demetriadou A., et al., ACS Photonics, 7, 463 (2020)
[5] Demetriadou A., Hamm J. et al., ACS Photonics, 4, 2410 (2017)
[6] Benz, F., Schmidt M., et al., Science, 354, 726 (2016)