Observation and analysis of Fano-like lineshapes in the Raman spectra of molecules adsorbed at metal interfaces

Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) from bipyridyl ethylene adsorbed on gold dumbbells shows Fano-like spectra at high incident light intensity. This is accompanied by an increased electronic temperature, while no vibrational anti-Stokes scattering is observed. Theory indicates that interference between vibrational and electronic Raman scattering can yield such asymmetric scattering lineshapes. The best fit to observations is however obtained by disregarding this coupling and accounting for the detailed lineshape of the continuous electronic component of the SERS.