Fano enhancement of second harmonic field via dark-bright plasmon coupling

Abstract

Surface plasmon resonances, the coherent oscillation of free electrons, can concentrate incident field into small volumes much smaller than the incident wavelength. The intense fields at these \textit{hot spots} enhance the light-matter interactions and may lead to the appearance of nonlinearity. Controlling such nonlinearities is significant for various practical applications. Here we report that by coupling dark modes to the first and the generated second harmonic modes separately, one can gain control over both fields. We find that by engineering path interferences (Fano resonances) between bright and dark plasmon modes it is possible to enhance the fundamental mode without increasing the nonlinear field, enhance the nonlinear field without modifying the fundamental mode, and enhance the second harmonic field with enhanced fundamental mode.