A review of the optical properties of alloys and intermetallics for plasmonics

Alternative materials are required to enhance the efficacy of plasmonic devices. We discuss the optical properties of a number of alloys, doped metals, intermetallics, silicides, metallic glasses and high pressure materials. We conclude that due to the probability of low frequency interband transitions, materials with partially occupied d-states perform poorly as plasmonic materials, ruling out many alloys, intermetallics and silicides as viable. The increased probability of electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering rules out many doped and glassy metals.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures, 3 table

Reversing the size-dependence of surface plasmon resonances

The size-dependence of surface plasmon resonances (SPRs) is poorly understood in the small particle limit due to complex physical/chemical effects and uncertainties in experimental samples. In this article, we report an approach for synthesizing an ideal class of colloidal Ag nanoparticles with highly uniform morphologies and narrow size distributions. Optical measurements and theoretical analyses for particle diameters in the d ≈ 2–20 nm range are presented. The SPR absorption band exhibits an exceptional behavior: As size decreases from d ≈ 20 nm it blue-shifts but then turns over near d ≈ 12 nm and strongly red-shifts. A multilayer Mie theory model agrees well with the observations, indicating that lowered electron conductivity in the outermost atomic layer, due to chemical interactions, is the cause of the red-shift. We corroborate this picture by experimentally demonstrating precise chemical control of the SPR peak positions via ligand exchange

Spatial Confinement of Electromagnetic Hot and Cold Spots in Gold Nanocubes

International audienceWe report a near-field imaging study of colloidal gold nanocubes. This is accomplished through a photochemical imaging method in which molecular displacements are vectorial in nature, enabling sensitivity to the polarization of the optical near-field of the nanocubes. We analyze the confinement of both electromagnetic hot and "cold" spots with a resolution of λ/35 and emphasize the particularly high spatial confinement of cold spots. The concept of a cold spot complements the well-known electromagnetic hot spot but can have significant advantages. The application of the ultraconfined cold spots to high resolution imaging and spectroscopy is discussed