Electron-energy loss study of nonlocal effects in connected plasmonic nanoprisms

We investigate the emergence of nonlocal effects in plasmonic nanostructures through electron-energy loss spectroscopy. To theoretically describe the spatial dispersion in the metal permittivity, we develop a full three-dimensional nonlocal hydrodynamic solution of Maxwell's equations in frequency domain that implements the electron beam as a line current source. We use our numerical approach to perform an exhaustive analysis of the impact of nonlocality in the plasmonic response of single triangular prisms and connected bowtie dimers. Our results demonstrate the complexity of the interplay between nonlocal and geometric effects taking place in these structures. We show the different sensitivities to both effects of the various plasmonic modes supported by these systems. Finally, we present an experimental electron-energy loss study on gold nanoprisms connected by bridges as narrow as 1.6 nm. The comparison with our theoretical predictions enables us to reveal in a phenomenological fashion the enhancement of absorption damping that occurs in these atomistic junctions due to quantum confinement and grain boundary electron scattering.