Low-power photothermal probing of single plasmonic nanostructures with nanomechanical string resonators

Abstract: We demonstrate the direct photothermal probing and mapping of single plasmonic nanostructures via the temperature induced detuning of nanomechanical string resonators. Single Au nanoslits are illuminated with a low-power polarized focused laser beam ({\lambda} = 633 nm). Polarization dependent heat generation in gold nanoslits is then imaged with high sensitivity. A sensitivity of -4.1 ppm/nW with respect to the illuminated light (beam diameter 5.0pm0.8 {\mu}m) is determined for a single nanoslit (1 {\mu}m long and 53 nm wide), which equals to a total light absorption of 16%. This results in a heating of 0.5 K for an illuminance of 8 nW/{\mu}m2. Our results show that nanomechanical resonators are a unique and robust analysis tool for the low-power investigation of thermoplasmonic effects in plasmonic hot spots.