Probing the limits of plasmonic enhancement using a two-dimensional atomic crystal probe

Achieving larger electromagnetic enhancement using a nanogap between neighboring metallic nanostructures has been long pursued for boosting light–matter interactions. However, the quantitative probing of this enhancement is hindered by the lack of a reliable experimental method for measuring the local fields within a subnanometer gap. Here, we use layered MoS₂ as a two-dimensional atomic crystal probe in nanoparticle-on-mirror nanoantennas to measure the plasmonic enhancement in the gap by quantitative surface-enhanced Raman scattering. Our designs ensure that the probe filled in the gap has a well-defined lattice orientation and thickness, enabling independent extraction of the anisotropic field enhancements. We find that the field enhancement can be safely described by pure classical electromagnetic theory when the gap distance is no <1.24 nm. For a 0.62 nm gap, the probable emergence of quantum mechanical effects renders an average electric field enhancement of 114-fold, 38.4% lower than classical predictions.