188 research outputs found
Coherent acoustic vibration of metal nanoshells
Using time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy we have performed the first
investigation of the vibrational modes of gold nanoshells. The fundamental
isotropic mode launched by a femtosecond pump pulse manifests itself in a
pronounced time-domain modulation of the differential transmission probed at
the frequency of nanoshell surface plasmon resonance. The modulation amplitude
is significantly stronger and the period is longer than in a gold nanoparticle
of the same overall size, in agreement with theoretical calculations. This
distinct acoustical signature of nanoshells provides a new and efficient method
for identifying these versatile nanostructures and for studying their
mechanical and structural properties.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Spectroscopy of vibrational modes in metal nanoshells
We study the spectrum of vibrational modes in metal nanoparticles with a
dielectric core. Vibrational modes are excited by the rapid heating of the
particle lattice that takes place after laser excitation, and can be monitored
by means of pump-probe spectroscopy as coherent oscillations of transient
optical spectra. In nanoshells, the presence of two metal surfaces results in a
substantially different energy spectrum of acoustic vibrations than for solid
particles. We calculated the energy spectrum as well as the damping of
nanoshell vibrational modes. The oscillator strength of fundamental breathing
mode is larger than that in solid nanoparticles. At the same time, in very thin
nanoshells, the fundamental mode is overdamped due to instantaneous energy
transfer to the surrounding medium
Nonequilibrium Electron Interactions in Metal Films
Ultrafast relaxation dynamics of an athermal electron distribution is
investigated in silver films using a femtosecond pump-probe technique with 18
fs pulses in off-resonant conditions. The results yield evidence for an
increase with time of the electron-gas energy loss rate to the lattice and of
the free electron damping during the early stages of the electron-gas
thermalization. These effects are attributed to transient alterations of the
electron average scattering processes due to the athermal nature of the
electron gas, in agreement with numerical simulations
Spontaneous Magnetization and Electron Momentum Density in 3D Quantum Dots
We discuss an exactly solvable model Hamiltonian for describing the
interacting electron gas in a quantum dot. Results for a spherical square well
confining potential are presented. The ground state is found to exhibit
striking oscillations in spin polarization with dot radius at a fixed electron
density. These oscillations are shown to induce characteristic signatures in
the momentum density of the electron gas, providing a novel route for direct
experimental observation of the dot magnetization via spectroscopies sensitive
to the electron momentum density.Comment: 5 pages (Revtex4), 4 (eps) figure
Excitonic optical transitions characterized by Raman excitation profiles in single-walled carbon nanotubes
We examine the excitonic nature of the E33 optical transition of the individual free-standing index-identified (23, 7) single-walled carbon nanotube by means of the measurements of its radial-breathing-mode and G-mode Raman excitation profiles. We confirm that it is impossible to determine unambiguously the nature of its E33 optical transition (excitonic vs band to band) based only on the excitation profiles. Nevertheless, by combining Raman scattering, Rayleigh scattering, and optical absorption measurements on strictly the same individual (23, 7) single-walled carbon nanotube, we show that the absorption, Rayleigh spectra, and Raman excitation profiles of the longitudinal and transverse G modes are best fitted by considering the nature of the E33 transition as excitonic. The fit of the three sets of data gives close values of the transition energy E33 and damping parameter G33. This comparison shows that the fit of the Raman excitation profiles provides with good accuracy the energy and damping parameter of the excitonic optical transitions in single-walled carbon nanotubes
Size-dependent Correlation Effects in Ultrafast Optical Dynamics of Metal Nanoparticles
We study the role of collective surface excitations in the electron
relaxation in small metal particles. We show that the dynamically screened
electron-electron interaction in a nanoparticle contains a size-dependent
correction induced by the surface. This leads to new channels of quasiparticle
scattering accompanied by the emission of surface collective excitations. We
calculate the energy and temperature dependence of the corresponding rates,
which depend strongly on the nanoparticle size. We show that the
surface-plasmon-mediated scattering rate of a conduction electron increases
with energy, in contrast to that mediated by a bulk plasmon. In noble-metal
particles, we find that the dipole collective excitations (surface plasmons)
mediate a resonant scattering of d-holes to the conduction band. We study the
role of the latter effect in the ultrafast optical dynamics of small
nanoparticles and show that, with decreasing nanoparticle size, it leads to a
drastic change in the differential absorption lineshape and a strong frequency
dependence of the relaxation near the surface plasmon resonance. The
experimental implications of our results in ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy
are also discussed.Comment: 29 pages including 6 figure
Plasmonic nature of van der Waals forces between nanoparticles
We propose a new approach to calculate van der Waals forces between
nanoparticles where the van der Waals energy can be reduced to the energy of
elementary surface plasmon oscillations in nanoparticles. The general theory is
applied to describe the interaction between 2 metallic nanoparticles and
between a nanoparticle and a perfectly conducting plane. Our results could be
used to prove experimentally the existence of plasmonic molecules and to
elaborate new control mechanisms for the adherence of nanoparticles between
each other or onto surfaces.Comment: 4 pages 5 figure
Ultrafast electron interactions in metal clusters
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