Mapping gigahertz vibrations in a plasmonic–phononic crystal

We image the gigahertz vibrational modes of a plasmonic–phononic crystal at sub-micron resolution by means of an ultrafast optical technique, using a triangular array of spherical gold nanovoids as a sample. Light is strongly coupled to the plasmonic modes, which interact with the gigahertz phonons by a process akin to surface-enhanced stimulated Brillouin scattering. A marked enhancement in the observed optical reflectivity change at the centre of a void on phononic resonance is likely to be caused by this mechanism. By comparison with numerical simulations of the vibrational field, we identify resonant breathing deformations of the voids and elucidate the corresponding mode shapes. We thus establish scanned optomechanical probing of periodic plasmonic–phononic structures as a new means of investigating their coupled excitations on the nanoscale.