Remote plasmon-induced heat transfer probed by the electronic transport of a gold nanowire

Abstract

We show in this paper that the heat generated by the optical excitation of resonant plasmonic antennas and diffusing along a simple glass/air interface disturbs the electron transport of a nearby conductive element. By probing the temperature-dependent resistance of a gold nanowire R nw (T ), we quantitatively analyze the impact of a resonant absorption of the laser by the antennas. We find that the temperature rise at the nanowire induced by the laser absorption of a distant nanoparticle may exceed that of a direct illumination of the nanowire itself. We also find that a global temperature calibration underestimates the heat generated locally by the laser. The temperature deduced from resistance variations are verified by numerical simulations with a very satisfactory agreement.

Electromigrated electrical optical antennas for transducing electrons and photons at the nanoscale

“…The applied bias is constant, but G ( t ) decays towards a stable value. This is understood from the temperature-dependent resistivity of the material: For a given V dc the current flowing in the constriction dissipates heat and affects in return the temperature-dependent resistivity [ 35 ]. These conductance fluctuations are typically observed for V dc ≤ 1.7 V and corresponds to the end of the first phase of voltage increments.…”

Optical wireless link between a nanoscale antenna and a transducing rectenna

“…No measurable contrast can be related to the photocurrent map presented in Fig. 2a (more discussion in Supplementary Note 2 ) indicating that the gap size is not deformed by the heat produced at the distant antenna 24 . We reproduce the wireless link and the transduction of the optical signal with a second tested device (Supplementary Fig.…”

Optical rectification and thermal currents in optical tunneling gap antennas

“…Compared to the trend expected if the laser would impart a linear expansion of the electrodes and a subsequent closing of the gap ( Figure 5 ), we conclude that the dependence of the tunnel current with laser intensity observed in Figure 4 or the confocal response of Figure 2(b) cannot be accounted for a modified gap size d during illumination and voltage activation. This is probably because on the one hand the electrodes are firmly attached mechanically to the substrate’s surface with the help of the Cr adhesion layer, and on the other hand, the SiO 2 acts as a thermal sink by dissipating the heat locally produced by the laser absorption [ 38 ].…”