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Published in

Optica, Optics Express, 3(28), p. 4115, 2020

DOI: 10.1364/oe.384301

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Optical Coulomb blockade lifting in plasmonic nanoparticle dimers

Journal article published in 2020 by Dmitry Sivun ORCID, Thomas A. Klar ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

If two metal nanoparticles are ultimately approached, a tunneling current prevents both an infinite redshift of the bonding dipolar plasmon and an infinite increase of the electric field in the hot spot between the nanoparticles. We argue that a Coulomb blockade suppresses the tunneling current and sustains a redshift even for sub-nanometer approach up to moderate fields. Only for stronger optical fields, the Coulomb blockade is lifted and a charge transfer plasmon is formed. Numerical simulations show that such scenarios are well in reach with manageable nanoparticle dimensions, even at room temperature. Applications may include ultrafast, optically driven switches, photo detectors operating at 500 THz, or highly nonlinear devices.