Ultrafast Vibrations of Gold Nanorings

We investigate the vibrational modes of gold nanorings on a silica substrate with an ultrafast optical technique. By comparison with numerical simulations, we identify several resonances in the gigahertz range associated with axially symmetric deformations of the nanoring and substrate. We elucidate the corresponding mode shapes and find that the substrate plays an important role in determining the mode damping. This study demonstrates the need for a plasmonic nano-optics approach to understand the optical excitation and detection mechanisms for the vibrations of plasmonic nanostructures.