An interdisciplinary research team at the University of Illinois has developed a novel, tunable nanoantenna that paves the way for new kinds of plasmonic-based optomechanical systems whereby plasmonic field enhancement can actuate mechanical motion. Illustration of the pillar-based Au bowtie nanoantenna arrays undergoing selective actuation due to an electromagnetic-induced force. “Recently, there has been a lot of interest in fabricating metal-based nanotextured surfaces that are pre-programmed to alter the properties of light in a specific way after incoming light interacts with it,” explained Kimani Toussaint, an associate professor of mechanical science and engineering who led the research. “For our approach, one can take a nanoarray structure that was already fabricated and further reconfigure the plasmonic, and hence, optical properties of select antennas. Therefore, one can decide after fabrication, rather than before, how they want their nanostructure to modify light.” The researchers developed a novel, metal, pillar-bowtie nanoantenna (p-BNA) array template on 500-nanometer tall glass pillars (or posts). In doing so, they demonstrated that the gap size for either individual or multiple p-BNAs can be tuned down to approximately 5 nm (approx. 4x smaller than what is currently achievable using conventional electron-beam lithography techniques). “On a fundamental level, our work demonstrates electron-beam based manipulation
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