[Press Release] Breakthrough in nonlinear electrophotonics: 2000%-V−1 electric enhancement of nonlinear light generation using an angstrom-scale plasmonic junction
Near-field SHG experiments in the angstrom-scale plasmonic junction of STM. a Energy level diagram of SHG process. b Scanning electron micrograph of the Au tip used in the experiments. c Schematic depiction of near-field SHG experiment. A Au tip and a Au substrate were mounted on an STM unit and formed an angstrom-scale gap with an applied bias voltage V. The gap region was irradiated by femtosecond near-IR laser with a frequency of ω, and near-field SHG with a frequency of 2ω was detected in both forward- and backward-scattering geometries. Credit: Adapted from Takahashi et al. (2026), Nature Communications, CC BY 4.0
Release Summary
Conventional nanoscale electroplasmonic structures provide limited electrical tunability of nonlinear optical responses. Scientists at Japan's Institute for Molecular Science have demonstrated an angstrom-scale electroplasmonic platform enabling giant modulation (2000% V-1) of near-field nonlinear optical effects across a broad spectral range. The breakthrough provides a novel scheme of highly efficient electro-optical conversion in an infinitesimal spatial scale, laying the foundation for atomic-scale ultracompact electrophotonic information-processing technology.
