Temperature Measurement in Plasmonic Nanoapertures Used for Optical Trapping

Plasmonic nanoapertures generate strong field gradients enabling efficient optical trapping of nano-objects. However, because the infrared laser used for trapping is also partly absorbed into the metal leading to Joule heating, plasmonic nano-optical tweezers face the issue of local temperature increase. Here, we develop three independent methods based on molecular fluorescence to quantify the temperature increase induced by a 1064 nm trapping beam focused on single and double nanoholes milled in gold films. We show that the temperature in the nanohole can be increased by 10 degrees C even at the moderate intensities of 2 mW/mu m(2) used for nano-optical trapping. The temperature gain is found to be largely governed by the ohmic losses into the metal layer, independently of the aperture size, double-nanohole gap, or laser polarization. The techniques developed therein can be readily extended to other structures to improve our understanding of nano-optical tweezers and explore heat-controlled chemical reactions in nanoapertures.