Abstract:

        Light can be localized to extremely small regions, down to subnanometer dimensions, by metallic nanoresonators that support resonant oscillations of the free electron cloud called plasmonic resonances. The extreme localization induced by the plasmonic (or related) excitations introduces new possibilities for fundamental studies and applications, including the mapping of the optical properties of molecules with submolecular resolution, the excitation of conventionally forbidden transitions or the optimization of the coupling with different matter excitations.

        The traditional treatment of plasmonic resonances based on solving the classical Maxwell’s equations can fail in these extreme conditions, so that a quantum description can become necessary. Here, we present and overview of novel effects in nanophotonic systems that are revealed by the use of different quantum methodologies, paying special to plasmonic nanoresonators characterized by extreme field localization and their interaction with molecules or other quantum emitters. We show that a rich variety of effects in molecular spectroscopy and microscopy emerge that are within reach of current experimental capabilities

Selected references

[1] J. J. Baumberg et al.  Nano Lett 23, 10696–10702 (2023)

[2] A. Babaze et al.  Nanophotonics 12, 3277-3289 (2023)

[3] R. Esteban et al. Acc. Chem. Res. 55, 1889−1899 (2022)

[4] A. Babaze et al.  Nano Lett. 21, 8466–8473 (2021).

[5] T. Neuman et al.     Nano Lett. 18, 2358−2364 (2018)

[6] Y. Zhang et al.  Nature Commun. 8, 15225 (2017)

[7] W. Zhu et al.  Nature Communications 7, 11495 (2016)

Biosketch:

　　Rubén Esteban obtained his PhD from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland) in 2007, for work performed at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart (Germany) with Klaus Kern and Ralf Vogelgesang. After two postdoctoral stays, one in France with Jean-Jacques Greffet and another in San Sebastián with Javier Aizpurua, and a stay as Research Associate in the group of Garnett Bryant in USA, R. Esteban obtained two competitive fellowships in the DIPC, a Fellow Gipuzkoa and, an Ikerbasque research Fellow. Since 2020 he is ‘Cientifico Titular’ in the Centro de Física de Materiales (CFM) of the Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). Ruben Esteban have acquired a strong expertise on a wide range of topics in nanophotonics, with a current focus on using different quantum methodologies to gain new insights and investigate new effects in light-matter interaction at the nanoscale. Rubén Esteban has published ≈70 articles, has contributed to ≈40 invited talks in scientific conferences and 4 invited seminars, and supervised 5 PhD thesis, with 3 additional more in progress.