title: Nonperturbative visualization of nanoscale plasmonic field distributions via photon localization microscopy.
abstract: We demonstrate the nonperturbative use of diffraction-limited optics and photon localization microscopy to visualize the controlled nanoscale shifts of zeptoliter mode volumes within plasmonic nanostructures. Unlike tip- or coating-based methods for mapping near fields, these measurements do not affect the electromagnetic properties of the structure being investigated. We quantify the local field manipulation capabilities of asymmetric bowtie antennas, in agreement with theoretical calculations. The photon-limited localization accuracy of nanoscale mode positions is determined for many of the measured devices to be within a 95% confidence interval of +/-2.5 nm. This accuracy also enables us to characterize the effects of nm-scale fabrication irregularities on local plasmonic mode distributions.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McLeod
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weber-Bargioni
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dhuey
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Harteneck
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Neaton
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cabrini
authors.forename: P James
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Schuck