Direct observation of beamed Raman scattering

Appropriately designed surface plasmon nanostructures enable the emission patterns of surface-enhanced Raman scattering to be modified to facilitate efficient collection, an effect sometimes termed "beamed Raman scattering". Here, we demonstrate the direct and unambiguous observation of this phenomenon by separating the Raman emission pattern from the luminescent background using energy momentum spectroscopy. We observe beamed Raman scattering from two types of optical antennas: the first are Yagi-Uda optical antennas, and the second are optical dimer antennas formed above a plasmonic substrate consisting of a gold film integrated with a one-dimensional array of gold stripes. For both antenna types, the emission patterns from different Raman lines are simultaneously measured. For the second antenna type, the emission patterns show signatures stemming from the bandstructure of the plasmonic substrate.