Experimental Verification of the Spectral Shift between Near- and Far-Field Peak Intensities of Plasmonic Infrared Nanoantennas

P. Alonso-Gonzalez, P. Albella, F. Neubrech, C. Huck, J. Chen, F. Golmar, F. Casanova, L. E. Hueso, A. Pucci, J. Aizpurua, and R. Hillenbrand

Physical Review Letters, 110, p.203902 (2013)
Theory predicts a distinct spectral shift between the near- and far-field optical response of plasmonic antennas. Here we combine near-field optical microscopy and far-field spectroscopy of individual infrared-resonant nanoantennas to verify experimentally this spectral shift. Numerical calculations corroborate our experimental results. We furthermore discuss the implications of this effect in surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy.