Data from: Acoustic wave modulation of gap plasmon cavities

The important role of metallic nanostructures in nanophotonics will expand
if ways to electrically manipulate their optical resonances at high speed
can be identified. We capitalized on electrically driven surface acoustic
waves and the extreme light concentration afforded by gap plasmons to
achieve this goal. We placed gold nanoparticles in a particle-on-mirror
configuration with a few-nanometer-thick, compressible polymer spacer.
Surface acoustic waves were then used to tune light scattering at speeds
approaching the gigahertz regime. We observed evidence that the surface
acoustic waves produced mechanical deformations in the polymer and that
ensuing nonlinear mechanical dynamics led to unexpectedly large levels of
strain and spectral tuning. Our approach provides a design strategy for
electrically driven dynamic metasurfaces and fundamental explorations of
high-frequency, polymer dynamics in ultraconfi ned geometries.