Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme
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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 60: Plasmonics and Nanooptics: Fabrication, Characterization and Applications I
O 60.6: Talk
Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 11:45–12:00, H8
Edge-state imaging of high-precision plasmonic SSH chains — Benedikt Schurr1, Luisa Brenneis2, Philipp Kessler2, Jin Qin1, Victor Lisinetskii2, •Matthias Hensen2, Ronny Thomale3, Tobias Brixner2, and Bert Hecht1 — 1NanoOptics & Biophotonics Group, Experimental Physics 5, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany — 2Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany — 3Institute for Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
Topological nanophotonics offers the possibility to precisely control nanoscale light--matter interaction via states that are topologically protected from disorder and impurities. A prominent example are Su--Schrieffer--Heeger (SSH) chains, in which the staggered nearest-neighbor coupling strength leads to topologically protected and localized edge states. Here, we present plasmonic SSH chains of nanoslot dipole antennas fabricated by helium ion-beam milling in a single-crystal Au micro-platelet. The chains are characterized by individual antenna distances down to 12 nm, strong coupling amplitudes, and negligible next-nearest-neighbor coupling. Furthermore, the near-field distribution of plasmonic eigenmodes is consistent with the amplitude distribution of the eigenfunctions of a quantum mechanical SSH model. We prove the existence of topological edge states experimentally by imaging corresponding mode patterns with aberration-corrected photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) under wide-field excitation.
Keywords: Topology; SSH chain; Plasmonics; PEEM; Helium ion microscope