2D-Material-Assisted Bistable Switching of Gap Plasmons Disclosed By Femtosecond Pulse Scattering Spectra

Nanosphere-on-mirror plasmonic antennas, each having a monolayer graphene or MoS2 sheet in the gap, were pumped with a femtosecond laser. Abrupt turnings in the scattering linewidth and peak intensity trends as the laser power changed were experimentally observed. Theoretical modelling of dynamic plasmon evolvement attributes the turning to transitioning between two plasmon states, with a universal switching threshold of four-wave mixing efficiency around 0.14%. This bistability is rendered by a strong feedback from the nonlinear gap current to the gap plasmons, and involvement of both four and high-order wave mixing. This work reveals a pathway to making energy efficient nonlinear plasmonic elements.