Direct Observation of Infrared Plasmonic Fano Antiresonances by a Nanoscale Electron Probe

In this Letter, we exploit recent breakthroughs in monochromated aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) to resolve infrared plasmonic Fano antiresonances in individual nanofabricated disk-rod dimers. Using a combination of electron energy-loss spectroscopy and theoretical modeling, we investigate and characterize a subspace of the weak coupling regime between quasidiscrete and quasicontinuum localized surface plasmon resonances where infrared plasmonic Fano antiresonances appear. This work illustrates the capability of STEM instrumentation to experimentally observe nanoscale plasmonic responses that were previously the domain only of higher-resolution infrared spectroscopies.