0000000000201103
AUTHOR
Olaf Schubert
Absorption Properties of Metal–Semiconductor Hybrid Nanoparticles
The optical response of hybrid metal-semiconductor nanoparticles exhibits different behaviors due to the proximity between the disparate materials. For some hybrid systems, such as CdS-Au matchstick-shaped hybrids, the particles essentially retain the optical properties of their original components, with minor changes. Other systems, such as CdSe-Au dumbbell-shaped nanoparticles, exhibit significant change in the optical properties due to strong coupling between the two materials. Here, we study the absorption of these hybrids by comparing experimental results with simulations using the discrete dipole approximation method (DDA) employing dielectric functions of the bare components as input…
Mapping the polarization pattern of plasmon modes reveals nanoparticle symmetry.
We study the wavelength and polarization dependent plasmon resonances of single silver and gold nanorods, triangles, cubes, and dimers with a novel single particle spectroscopy method (RotPOL). In RotPOL, a rotating wedge-shaped polarizer encodes the full polarization information of each particle within one image. This reveals the symmetry of the particles and their plasmon modes, allows analyzing inhomogeneous samples and the monitoring of particle shape changes during growth in situ.
Plasmonic Focusing Reduces Ensemble Linewidth of Silver-Coated Gold Nanorods
Silver coating gold nanorods reduces the ensemble plasmon line width by changing the relation connecting particle shape and plasmon resonance wavelength. This change, we term "plasmonic focusing", leads to less variation of resonance wavelengths for the same particle size distribution. We also find smaller single particle linewidth comparing resonances at the same wavelength but show that this does not contribute to the ensemble linewidth narrowing.
Gold Nanoparticle Growth Monitored in situ Using a Novel Fast Optical Single-Particle Spectroscopy Method
Size- and shape-dependent optical properties of gold nanorods allow monitoring their growth using a novel fast single-particle spectroscopy (fastSPS) method. FastSPS uses a spatially addressable electronic shutter based on a liquid crystal device to investigate particles randomly deposited on a substrate, orders of magnitude faster than other techniques. We use fastSPS to observe nanoparticle growth in situ on a single-particle level and extract quantitative data on nanoparticle growth.
Quantitative Optical Trapping of Single Gold Nanorods
We report a quantitative analysis of the forces acting on optically trapped single gold nanorods. Individual nanorods with diameters between 8 and 44 nm and aspect ratios between 1.7 and 5.6 were stably trapped in three dimensions using a laser wavelength exceeding their plasmon resonance wavelengths. The interaction between the electromagnetic field of an optical trap and a single gold nanorod correlated with particle polarizability, which is a function of both particle volume and aspect ratio.