SKM 2021 – scientific programme

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SYES: Symposium Spain as Guest of Honor

SYES 1: Spain as Guest of Honor

SYES 1.4: Invited Talk

Wednesday, September 29, 2021, 14:45–15:15, Audimax 2

Bringing nanophotonics to the atomic scale — •Javier Aizpurua — Center for Materials Physics in San Sebastian (CSIC-UPV/EHU), Spain

A plasmonic nanogap is a superb configuration to explore the interplay between light and matter. Light scattered off, or emitted from a nanogap carries the information of the surrounding electromagnetic environment with it. In metallic nanocavities with ultrasmall gaps, electron currents across the gap at optical frequencies efficiently produce a strong nonlinear optical response. All these effects can be further controlled when a bias is applied across the gap, enabling the possibility of active control of light emitted from the cavity. This situation becomes even more appealing when a molecule is located in the gap of the plasmonic cavity or in its proximity, with the molecule playing an active role either in the electromagnetic coupling with the cavity, or even participating in processes of charge injection and transfer, which can be revealed through molecular electroluminescence. Here, we will address situations of light emission in electron tunneling configurations where atomic-scale resolution is achieved due to the presence of picocavities within the gap. The process of interaction between a molecular emitter and a tunneling cavity will be addressed both in the weak and strong coupling regimes, as revealed in light absorption and in emission. Strong coupling between a molecule and a plasmonic cavity shows great technological potential as it produces hybrid molecule-cavity polaritonic states which can be used for quantum information or in induced chemical reactivity.