Interaction Of Surface Plasmons Research Articles

Highly photoactive Au-TiO2 nanowires for improved photo-degradation of propiconazole fungicide under UV/sunlight irradiation

Lengthy TiO2 nanostructures exhibiting improved physicochemical properties have been recently investigated for many useful applications. In this context, elongated TiO2 nanowires (TNW) of length 1.9–8µm; diameter 80–270nm are prepared and 1wt% Au was photodeposited onto TNW for enhanced photo-degradation of propiconazole fungicide under UV/visible light irradiation. The phase composition of TNW (anatase=72%, rutile=28%) was almost similar to commercially available P25 TiO2 (anatase=70%, rutile=30%). TEM analysis reveals uniform dispersion of spherical Au nanoparticles (3–5nm) deposits over entire TNW surface. The specific surface area 148m2g−1 of TNW is notably higher than 59m2g−1 of P25 TiO2 which is reduced slightly to 136m2g−1 after Au loading. TNW exhibited increased (45–64µs) relaxation time of photoexcited e−/h+ pairs as compared to P25 TiO2 due to its elongated structure and after Au loading further improves the charge separation efficiency (79µs). The complete photodecomposition of propiconazole to CO2 by bare and Au-loaded TNW under light irradiation through formation of various intermediate products was monitored through HPLC, GC and GC–MS analysis. It revealed that Au-loaded TNW always exhibited 3.5–40 times higher photocatalytic activity than mostly used P25 TiO2 because of more anatase phase, larger specific surface area and a higher lifetime of excited charge species where Au loading enhanced the visible light absorption capacity due to surface plasmon interaction.

Engineering Localized Surface Plasmon Interactions in Gold by Silicon Nanowire for Enhanced Heating and Photocatalysis.

The field of plasmonics has attracted considerable attention in recent years because of potential applications in various fields such as nanophotonics, photovoltaics, energy conversion, catalysis, and therapeutics. It is becoming increasing clear that intrinsic high losses associated with plasmons can be utilized to create new device concepts to harvest the generated heat. It is therefore important to design cavities, which can harvest optical excitations efficiently to generate heat. We report a highly engineered nanowire cavity, which utilizes a high dielectric silicon core with a thin plasmonic film (Au) to create an effective metallic cavity to strongly confine light, which when coupled with localized surface plasmons in the nanoparticles of the thin metal film produces exceptionally high temperatures upon laser irradiation. Raman spectroscopy of the silicon core enables precise measurements of the cavity temperature, which can reach values as high as 1000 K. The same Si-Au cavity with enhanced plasmonic activity when coupled with TiO2 nanorods increases the hydrogen production rate by ∼40% compared to similar Au-TiO2 system without Si core, in ethanol photoreforming reactions. These highly engineered thermoplasmonic devices, which integrate three different cavity concepts (high refractive index core, metallo-dielectric cavity, and localized surface plasmons) along with the ease of fabrication demonstrate a possible pathway for designing optimized plasmonic devices with applications in energy conversion and catalysis.

Design of the ZnS/Ge/GaSe pn interfaces as plasmonic, photovoltaic and microwave band stop filters

Abstract In the current work, we report and discuss the features of the design of a ZnS (300 nm)/Ge (300 nm)/GaSe (300 nm) thin film device. The device is characterized by the X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), optical spectroscopy, microwave power spectroscopy and light power dependent photoconductivity. While the X-ray diffraction technique revealed a polycrystalline ZnS coated with two amorphous layers of Ge and GaSe, the hot probe tests revealed the formation of pn interface. The optical spectra which were employed to reveal the conduction and valence band offsets at the ZnS/Ge and Ge/GaSe interface indicated information about the dielectric dispersion at the interface. The dielectric spectra of the ZnS/Ge/GaSe heterojunction which was modeled assuming the domination of surface plasmon interactions through the films revealed a pronounced increase in the drift mobility of free carriers in the three layers compared to the single and double layers. In the scope of the fitting parameters, a wave trap that exhibit filtering properties at notch frequency of 2.30 GHz was designed and tested. The ac signals power spectrum absorption reached ∼ 99%. In addition, the photocurrent analysis on the ZnS/Ge/GaSe interface has shown it is suitability for photovoltaic and photosensing applications.

Competition Between Resonant Plasmonic Coupling and Electrostatic Interaction in Reduced Graphene Oxide Quantum Dots.

The light emission from reduced graphene oxide quantum dots (rGO-QDs) exhibit a significant enhancement in photoluminescence (PL) due to localized surface plasmon (LSP) interactions. Silver and gold nanoparticles (NPs) coupled to rGO nanoparticles exhibit the effect of resonant LSP coupling on the emission processes. Enhancement of the radiative recombination rate in the presence of Ag-NPs induced LSP tuned to the emission energy results in a four-fold increase in PL intensity. The localized field due to the resonantly coupled LSP modes induces n-π* transitions that are not observed in the absence of the resonant interaction of the plasmons with the excitons. An increase in the density of the Ag-NPs result in a detuning of the LSP energy from the emission energy of the nanoparticles. The detuning is due to the cumulative effect of the red-shift in the LSP energy and the electrostatic field induced blue shift in the PL energy of the rGO-QDs. The detuning quenches the PL emission from rGO-QDs at higher concentration of Ag NPs due to non-dissipative effects unlike plasmon induced Joule heating that occurs under resonance conditions. An increase in Au nanoparticles concentration results in an enhancement of PL emission due to electrostatic image charge effect.

Tunable Surface Plasmon and Phonon Polariton Interactions for Moderately Doped Semiconductor Surfaces.

Spatial charge distribution for biased semiconductors fundamentally differs from metals since they can allow inhomogeneous charge distributions due to penetration of the electric field, as observed in the classical Schottky junctions. Similarly, the electrostatics of the dielectric/semiconductor interface can lead to a carrier depletion or accumulation in the semiconductor side when under applied bias. In this study, we demonstrate that the inhomogeneous carrier accumulation in a moderately p-doped GaAs–dielectric interface can be tailored for tunable plasmonics by an external voltage. Solving Maxwell’s equations in the doped GaAs-dielectric stack, we investigate the tunability of the surface plasmon and phonon polaritons’ interaction via an external bias. The plasmonic mode analysis of such an interface reveals interesting dispersion curves for surface plasmon and phonon polariton interactions that are not possible in metals. We show that the plasmon dispersion curve can be engineered through an external bias using the inherent properties of the p-doped GaAs– dielectric interface.

Charge carrier dynamics and surface plasmon interaction in gold nanorod-blended organic solar cell

The inclusion of plasmonic nanoparticles into organic solar cell enhances the light harvesting properties that lead to higher power conversion efficiency without altering the device configuration. This work defines the consequences of the nanoparticle overloading amount and energy transfer process between gold nanorod and polymer (active matrix) in organic solar cells. We have studied the hole population decay dynamics coupled with gold nanorods loading amount which provides better understanding about device performance limiting factors. The exciton and plasmon together act as an interacting dipole; however, the energy exchange between these two has been elucidated via plasmon resonance energy transfer (PRET) mechanism. Further, the charge species have been identified specifically with respect to their energy levels appearing in ultrafast time domain. The specific interaction of these charge species with respective surface plasmon resonance mode, i.e., exciton to transverse mode of oscillation and polaron pair to longitudinal mode of oscillations, has been explained. Thus, our analysis reveals that PRET enhances the carrier population density in polymer via non-radiative process beyond the concurrence of a particular plasmon resonance oscillation mode and polymer absorption range. These findings give new insight and reveal specifically the factors that enhance and control the performance of gold nanorods blended organic solar cells. This work would lead in the emergence of future plasmon based efficient organic electronic devices.

Optical field and attractive force at the subwavelength slit.

In recent works, a novel light-induced attractive force was predicted between two metal plates. This force arises by the interaction of surface plasmons which are excited at the metal when a transverse magnetic mode propagates through a subwavelength slit between two metal bodies. In this paper, the analytical and numerical calculations of this magnetic field are presented for the perfect metal and for gold. The amplitude and the phase transient curves between the known limiting cases of narrow and wide slits compared to the wavelength are found. The curve is shown to oscillate due to the emergence of new waveguide modes. The analytic solution for the perfect metal is in agreement with the computation for gold by means of the finite element method. The simple asymptotic formula for the light-induced attractive force is found in the limit of a narrow slit.

Tunnel Light Through a Continuous Optically Thick Metal Film Utilizing Higher Order Magnetic Plasmon Resonance

In this letter, we investigate the extraordinary optical transmission behavior of a flat continuous metal film sandwiched by magnetic plasmonic structures. A new mechanism by utilizing higher order magnetic plasmon resonance is proposed to enhance the transmission. Numerical simulation results show that 80 % electromagnetic energy can be transmitted through the middle 50-nm-thick continuous gold film in near-infrared regime. The excitation of the second-order magnetic plasmons and the propagating surface plasmons, as well as the interaction between them accounts for such a high transmission. The interaction of magnetic plasmons and surface plasmons leads to new hybrid modes, and the coupled oscillator model is introduced to analyze this hybridization. This work extends the application range of higher order magnetic plasmons and may have potential in transparent electrode and electromagnetic energy transfer applications.

Adiabatic passage mediated by plasmons: A route towards a decoherence-free quantum plasmonic platform

We show that the interaction of surface plasmons with quantum emitters can be described by an effective model that has the same structure as a lossy multimode cavity quantum electromagnetic interaction. This allows the coherent manipulation of quantum emitters dressed by surface plasmons at the nanoscale. We show that strong coupling in quantum plasmonics can be used to mediate efficiently the interaction between emitters via a decoherence-free channel, immune to the strong plasmon dissipation. Efficient and robust population transfer, as well as the deterministic generation of entanglement between emitters are numerically shown. These results pave the way for an efficient use of the quantum plasmonic platform beyond its inherent losses.

Optical Transmission Enhancement of Stacked Plasmonic Apertures

In this study, we demonstrate enhanced transmission for out-of-plane stacked plasmonic apertures through the interaction of localized surface plasmons of apertures using both numerical and theoretical approaches. A dispersive finite-difference time-domain (D-FDTD) model is used to investigate the systems through the numerical simulations. To explain the results of the FDTD numerical simulations and to bring further insight to this interaction, we use a magnetic coupled dipole approximation as the theoretical basis. Our results demonstrate that near-field in-phase and out-of-phase interactions of the stacked nanoholes increase or decrease the optical transmission. Plasmon hybridization is discussed for stacked nanohole dimers on out-of-plane metallic films.

Near Field Investigation of a Plasmonic Lüneburg Lens

In this work, we investigate the interaction of surface plasmons with a plasmonic Luneburg lens using near field scanning optical microscopy. Gray-scale electron beam lithography is used to prepare a dome-shaped resist structure on top of a gold film. This particular shape yields the effective refractive index profile of a Luneburg lens for surface plasmons propagating at the film surface at an energy of $\hbar \omega ={1.72}$ eV. Next to the Luneburg lens a grating coupler is milled into the gold film with focused ion beam. The surface plasmons are launched to propagate through the lens and the near field pattern is scanned. We clearly identify a focal spot in the near field signal at the outer perimeter of the lens. In addition, we observe a beating pattern arising from further plasmon waves excited by higher orders of the grating coupler. The emergence of this beating pattern allows the detection of the plasmon’s wave fronts. An analytical model was used to retrieve the properties of the participating wave components. The measured near-field pattern could be modeled very well with electromagnetic simulations applying the effective refractive index approach.

Compact interferometer transducer based on surface plasmon phase resonance.

We propose a new monolithic interferometric configuration and implement a novel method for spectroscopic phase shift detection of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors. The interference pattern is obtained using a nonpolarizing beam splitter cube with two attached right angle prisms in such a way that each interference field undergoes two total internal reflections (TIR) at prisms/air interface and one attenuated total reflection (ATR) through surface plasmon interaction. The evanescent part of the interferogram around the Zero optical path difference (ZOPD) is sampled and detected in the far field, thanks to a bidimensional array of scattering optical near-field probes deposited on the corresponding prism surface. A Fourier transform of the sampled interferogram is performed to measure the input light wavelength, while a direct comparison of the interferogram in TM and TE polarization modes allows us to determine the differential phase shift induced by the SPR layer. The phase shift measurement is made possible thanks to a remarkable time stability of the interferogram in the glass bulk. By tuning the input laser wavelength around the resonance, we show a good agreement between experimental and theoretical calculations for both amplitude and phase spectral responses.

Deciphering the stepwise binding mode of HRG1β to HER3 by surface plasmon resonance and interaction map.

For the development of efficient anti-cancer therapeutics against the HER receptor family it is indispensable to understand the mechanistic model of the HER receptor activation upon ligand binding. Due to its high complexity the binding mode of Heregulin 1 beta (HRG1β) with its receptor HER3 is so far not understood. Analysis of the interaction of HRG1β with surface immobilized HER3 extracellular domain by time-resolved Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) was so far not interpretable using any regular analysis method as the interaction was highly complex. Here, we show that Interaction Map (IM) made it possible to shed light on this interaction. IM allowed deciphering the rate limiting kinetic contributions from complex SPR sensorgrams and thereby enabling the extraction of discrete kinetic rate components from the apparently heterogeneous interactions. We could resolve details from the complex avidity-driven binding mode of HRG1β with HER3 by using a combination of SPR and IM data. Our findings contribute to the general understanding that a major conformational change of HER3 during its activation is induced by a complex sequential HRG1β docking mode.

Interaction of localized surface plasmons with chiral molecules

We analyze theoretically the interaction between chiral molecules and localized surface plasmons in subwavelength metallic structures of arbitrary shape. The chiral molecule is modeled using Condon's classical description of the molecular dipole moment that depends on the magnetic field [E. U. Condon, Rev. Mod. Phys. 9, 432 (1937)]. This model is included in an eigenmode theory of coupled plasmonic systems. In the limit of dipole-dipole interactions, the theory predicts there is no change in the resonance frequency of the surface plasmon in the presence of a chiral molecule and there is no change in the amplitude of the resonance in the presence of a uniform distribution of chiral molecules. This implies that to observe the effects of the chirality of molecules it may be necessary to form localized surface plasmons with more complex charge distributions. We also examine the absorption of light of the combined system of the metal structure and chiral molecule. The theory predicts that the chirality-dependent absorption in the metal structure averages to zero for a uniform distribution of molecules, with the observed absorption occurring entirely within the molecule due to excitation by the incident light and the fields from the surface plasmon. Apart from the expected circular dichroism, the theory also predicts a chirality-dependent absorption arising from a metal nanostructure illuminated with linearly polarized light and an absorption arising from those chiral properties of the molecule usually associated with optical activity.

Probing surface−complex interactions with the bis(4-thienylterpyridine)iron(II) complex anchored on TiO2 and gold nanoparticles

The bis(4-thienylterpyridine)iron(II) complex was employed, in comparison with the 4-phenylterpyridine analogue, as a molecular probe for monitoring the surface plasmon interactions with gold nanoparticles. The two complexes exhibited distinct SERS responses, confirming the binding of the thienyl group to the gold nanoparticles. Their inclusion into β-cyclodextrin anchored on TiO2 surfaces provided a useful system for applications in UV dosimetry, based on the gradual bleaching of the violet-blue color under sunlight and air.

Role of coupling of localized surface plasmon modes in transmission properties of compound structure metamaterials

We have studied the influence of interaction and coupling of localized surface plasmon (LSP) on the transmission peak and resonance frequency of compound structure metamaterials. It is found that the longitudinal interval (L) between metal particle and rectangular holes arrays has an important influence on the interaction and coupling strength of LSP modes of the designed compound structure. Results indicate that the reduction of transmission peak and red-shift of resonance frequency of the designed compound structure can be modulated through increasing the interaction and coupling strength of LSP modes.

Position Dependent Plasmonic Interaction Between a Single Nanoparticle and a Nanohole Array

The interaction of surface plasmons supported on a nanohole array and a single nanoparticle affixed to an atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe was studied for optimizing gap mode enhancement of the plasmonic field. Scanning probe microscopy controlled the AFM probe position, and the location specific interaction of the single nanoparticle (SNP) probe-nanohole array surface plasmons, was measured by darkfield spectroscopy. Raster-scanned darkfield imaging of the surface plasmons on the nanohole array is demonstrated, as well as image formation from measuring the SNP interaction at various (X, Y) locations relative to the nanohole. Coupling of the nanoparticle to the nanohole array exhibited maximal coupling when the SNP resided within a nanohole, resulting in a maximum SPR wavelength shift of 17 nm and an increase in scatter intensity of 137×. This technique may be expanded to mapping nanostructure coupling across three dimensions to determine optimal coupling conditions for applications in biosensing and surface enhanced spectroscopy. This contribution presents the first empirical observations of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) controlled gap mode enhancement of more complex nanostructures, a method for positioning optimization prior to sensing applications and experimental evidence for optimal lateral SNP-nanohole array positioning.

Holographic duality in nonlinear hyperbolic metamaterials

According to the holographic principle, the description of a volume of space can be thought of as encoded on its boundary. Holographic principle establishes equivalence, or duality, between theoretical description of volume physics, which involves gravity, and the gravity-free field theory, which describes physics on its surface. While generally accepted as a theoretical framework, so far there was no known experimental system which would exhibit explicit holographic duality and be amenable to direct experimental testing. Here we demonstrate that nonlinear optics of hyperbolic metamaterials admits such a dual holographic description. Wave equation which describes propagation of extraordinary light through the volume of metamaterial exhibits 2 + 1 dimensional Lorentz symmetry. The role of time in the corresponding effective 3D Minkowski spacetime is played by the spatial coordinate aligned with the optical axis of the material. Nonlinear optical Kerr effect bends this spacetime resulting in effective gravitational interaction between extraordinary photons. On the other hand, a holographic dual theory may be formulated on the metamaterial surface, which describes its nonlinear optics via interaction of cylindrical surface plasmons possessing conserved charges proportional to their angular momenta. Potential implications of this duality for superconductivity of hyperbolic metamaterials are discussed.

Interaction of surface plasmons with interference modes in thin-film nanostructures

In Au/As2S3 metal-semiconductor surface composite structures, anomalous absorption of light beyond the fundamental absorption edge of the semiconductor is observed. This absorption is caused by the interaction of the near field of surface plasmons in metal nanoparticles with interference (virtual) modes of the Fabry-Perot cavity formed by the semiconductor film.

Transmission characteristics of a microscale dielectric slab waveguide device with a deep groove and an embedded metallodielectric grating at low terahertz frequency

We discuss the transmission characteristics of a microscale dielectric waveguide device with a deep groove and an embedded metallodielectric grating illuminated by a continuous wave of TM and TE modes at low terahertz frequency. To study its performance we solve numerically the corresponding Maxwell equations by means of finite difference time domain method with uniaxial perfectly match layer as its boundary condition. By varying the angle of incident, grating filling factor and refractive index of analyte in the deep groove, it is found that the device exhibits a significant transmission enhancement for the TM mode due to the existence of surface plasmon interaction. We also demonstrate its potential application as a biosensor device.