In this work, scientists from The Netherlands focus on the amplification of time-dependent reflection changes caused by acoustic waves generated using ultrashort (sub-100 fs) light pulses interacting with a plasmonic grating. Surface plasmons are collective oscillations of free electrons at the interface between a conducting material and the dielectric environment. These excitations support the formation of strongly enhanced and confined electromagnetic fields. They also display fast dynamics lasting tens of femtoseconds, and so they represent the perfect tool to drive and control fast optical processes, such as optical switching, which are fundamental for practical applications in quantum optics and acoustics, as well as light-driven computing, information processing and time-resolved sensing. Upon resonant pumping of the system, the authors observe reflection changes enhanced up to 20-fold due to a shift of the surface plasmon resonance via acousto-optically induced electron density changes and acoustic-wave-induced grating deformations. These results may also pave the way towards nanoscale acousto-optical-driven phononics and magnonics at GHz and THz frequencies.

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