Lattice tuning of optical and mechanical interactions in gold nanodisk metasurfaces
Abstract
The interaction between neighboring plasmonic nanoparticles can modify their intrinsic optical and mechanical resonances, enabling collective responses to be controlled through the geometry of their arrangement. Periodic arrays therefore provide a means of controlling both electromagnetic and mechanical interactions through a common geometrical parameter, the lattice pitch. Joint control of these two channels is particularly useful for engineering how coherent mechanical excitations couple to the substrate and are optically read out at the nanoscale. Here, we investigate the optical and mechanical response of gold nanodisk metasurface patches on silica as a function of lattice pitch using two-color pump-probe spectroscopy and numerical simulations. Optically, simulations show that varying the pitch tunes a Rayleigh anomaly across the broad localized surface plasmon resonance of the nanodisks, producing a strongly asymmetric collective optical response. Pump-probe measurements further reveal a pronounced wavelength dependence of the optical readout of coherent mechanical vibrations. Mechanically, we investigate how coupling between the nanodisks and the substrate depends on the character of the nanodisk resonances. The intrinsic nanodisk modes exhibit markedly different sensitivities to the periodic environment. One remains nearly independent of pitch, whereas another undergoes a pronounced frequency shift mediated by elastic interactions through the substrate. Numerical simulations further reveal that a third nanodisk resonance couples resonantly to a lattice-selected acoustic mode, giving rise to an avoided crossing and mode hybridization. These distinct mechanical responses are governed by how efficiently each mode couples to near-surface elastic motion in the substrate. These results demonstrate that lattice periodicity can simultaneously tune optical sensitivity and substrate-mediated mechanical coupling, providing a versatile platform for tailoring nanoscale optomechanical responses in the GHz regime.
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BibTeX
@misc{sangiorgio2026lattice,
title = {{Lattice tuning of optical and mechanical interactions in gold nanodisk metasurfaces}},
author = {Juan I. Sangiorgio and Diya Xie and Emiliano Cortés and Gustavo Grinblat and Andrea V. Bragas},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.10420},
eprint = {2610.10420},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10420},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Lattice tuning of optical and mechanical interactions in gold nanodisk metasurfaces
AU - Juan I. Sangiorgio
AU - Diya Xie
AU - Emiliano Cortés
AU - Gustavo Grinblat
AU - Andrea V. Bragas
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.10420
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10420
AB - The interaction between neighboring plasmonic nanoparticles can modify their intrinsic optical and mechanical resonances, enabling collective responses to be controlled through the geometry of their arrangement. Periodic arrays therefore provide a means of controlling both electromagnetic and mechanical interactions through a common geometrical parameter, the lattice pitch. Joint control of these two channels is particularly useful for engineering how coherent mechanical excitations couple to the substrate and are optically read out at the nanoscale. Here, we investigate the optical and mechanical response of gold nanodisk metasurface patches on silica as a function of lattice pitch using two-color pump-probe spectroscopy and numerical simulations. Optically, simulations show that varying the pitch tunes a Rayleigh anomaly across the broad localized surface plasmon resonance of the nanodisks, producing a strongly asymmetric collective optical response. Pump-probe measurements further reveal a pronounced wavelength dependence of the optical readout of coherent mechanical vibrations. Mechanically, we investigate how coupling between the nanodisks and the substrate depends on the character of the nanodisk resonances. The intrinsic nanodisk modes exhibit markedly different sensitivities to the periodic environment. One remains nearly independent of pitch, whereas another undergoes a pronounced frequency shift mediated by elastic interactions through the substrate. Numerical simulations further reveal that a third nanodisk resonance couples resonantly to a lattice-selected acoustic mode, giving rise to an avoided crossing and mode hybridization. These distinct mechanical responses are governed by how efficiently each mode couples to near-surface elastic motion in the substrate. These results demonstrate that lattice periodicity can simultaneously tune optical sensitivity and substrate-mediated mechanical coupling, providing a versatile platform for tailoring nanoscale optomechanical responses in the GHz regime.
ER -