title: Ultrafast manipulation of strong coupling in metal-molecular aggregate hybrid nanostructures.
abstract: We demonstrate an ultrafast manipulation of the Rabi splitting energy Ω(R) in a metal-molecular aggregate hybrid nanostructure. Femtosecond excitation drastically alters the optical properties of a model system formed by coating a gold nanoslit array with a thin J-aggregated dye layer. Controlled and reversible transient switching from strong (Ω(R) ≃ 55 meV) to weak (Ω(R) ≈ 0) coupling on a sub-ps time scale is directly evidenced by mapping the nonequilibrium dispersion relations of the coupled excitations. Such a strong, externally controllable coupling of excitons and surface plasmon polaritons is of considerable interest for ultrafast all-optical switching applications in nanoscale plasmonic circuits.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Physik, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vasa
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pomraenke
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cirmi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Re
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schwieger
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leipold
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Runge
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cerullo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lienau