Loss-Mitigated Collective Resonances in Gain-Assisted
Plasmonic Mesocapsules
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Abstract
Inherent optical losses of plasmonic
materials represent a crucial
issue for optoplasmonics, whereas the realization of hierarchical
plasmonic nanostructures implemented with gain functionalities is
a promising and valuable solution to the problem. Here we demonstrate
that porous silica capsules embedding gold nanoparticles (Au NPs)
and fabricated at a scale intermediate between the single plasmonic
nanostructure and bulk materials show remarkable form–function
relations. At this scale, in fact, the plasmon–gain interplay
is dominated by the location of the gain medium with respect to the
spatial distribution of the local field. In particular, the hollow
spherical cavities of these structures allow regions of uniform plasmonic
field where the energy transfer occurring between chromophoric donors
and the surrounding plasmonic acceptors gives rise to a broadband
attenuation of losses