TERRaMoOn · Development of hybrid tip-enhanced IR-Raman microscopy for the study of molecular optomechanical upconversion
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2023-09-01 → 2026-01-31
- EU contribution
- €165,313
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Development of hybrid tip-enhanced IR-Raman microscopy for the study of molecular optomechanical upconversion
With the TERRaMoOn project, I wanted to pursue the exploration and understanding of the IR to VIS molecular upconversion process. In this process, the vibrational mode of a molecule is resonantly driven by an infrared (IR) field. Under simultaneous visible (VIS) illumination, the vibrational excitation is mapped onto the upper vibrational sideband (anti-Stokes sideband) of the scattered field leading to the detection in the visible domain of IR photons. Recently, this process raised interest in the community [Shen et al., Science (2021)] as a potential way to manipulate and detect IR fields efficiently at room temperature. The impressive results were obtained thanks to a very carefully engineered doubly resonant nanostructure that would hardly be compatible with microscopy and spectroscopy applications. So, the main objective of this project consisted in tailoring nanostructures for molecular upconversion compatible with nanoimaging and spectroscopy instruments.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Optical control of mechanical oscillators of widely different dimensions are all described by the same cavity optomechanics interaction between phonons and photons inside a cavity. In the previous decades, various research groups leveraged on this interaction to cool the mechanical oscillators to its ground-state and to produce and detect quantum states of light.The applicant wants to take advantage of mechanical modes that are deeply in their ground state at room temperature, namely vibrational modes of molecules with resonance frequencies in the IR to THz frequency range (between 1-100 THz) to explore the novel molecular optomechanical frequency conversion process (m-OMC). The key idea of the process consists in upconverting a weak IR signal into the visible domain via molecules (with modes both Raman and IR active) placed onto metallic nanoantennas, opening the whole toolbox of visible field manipulation and detection to electromagnetic fields in the IR range. The goal of TERRaMoOn is to study the m-OMC process with a hybrid near-field microscope, where the near-field probe (metallic atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip) takes over the role of one of the antennas. In the near-field microscopy approach, the tip-antenna configuration can be tuned in-situ offering unprecedented versatility to the m-OMC process and enabling to access fundamental insights that would be inaccessible to typically studied on-chip devices. m-OMC could also lead to a new modality of near-field microscopy, where IR modes could be imaged with nanoscale spatial resolution and with exceptional sensitivity by making use of the frequency conversion process. The molecular layers studied during the project will finally enable the first unambiguous measurements of vibrational strong coupling via a Raman experiment. As such, TERRaMoOn promises to open novel enticing fundamental and technological research directions and to have a long-standing impact in the field.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- ASOCIACION CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION COOPERATIVA EN NANOCIENCIAS CIC NANOGUNE · San SebastianCoordinatorSpain
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/101065661
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e5101ef05b&appId=PPGMS
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e527267c56&appId=PPGMS
Data: CORDIS, © European Union