Optical Extinction Properties of Perforated Gold-Silica-Gold Multilayer Nanoshells

Abstract

Symmetry breaking in gold nanoshell (or multilayer nanoshells) can supply many interesting optical properties, which has been studied in gold nanostrucutres such as nanocup, nanoegg, and core offset gold-silica-gold multilayer nanoshells. In this work, the optical extinction properties of the perforated gold-silica-gold multilayer nanoshells are studied by the discrete dipole approximation method simulations and plasmon hybridization theory. The extinction spectra of these particles are sensitive to the orientation of the particle with respect to polarization of the light due to the symmetry breaking. Because of the coupling of the plasmon resonance modes between the inner gold sphere and the outer nanocup structure, the perforated gold-silica-gold nanoshell provides the additional plasmon resonance peak and an even greater spectral tunability comparing with the nanocup of similar dimensions. By changing the geometry of the particles, the extinction peaks of the particles can be easily tuned into the near-infrared region, which is favorable for biological applications. The local refractive index sensitivity of the particles is also investigated, and the multiple extinction peaks simultaneous shift is found as surrounding medium is altered. The perforated gold-silica-gold multilayer nanoshells may provide various applications ranging from angularly selective filters to biological sensors.