Inelastic light scattering by the vibrational modes of single gold nanocrystals

The measurement of acoustic vibrational modes is fundamental to the full comprehension of the mechanical properties of nano-objects, since they are related to the intrinsic characteristics of the material, such as crystallinity, size, shape, and elasticity. Furthermore, it has been shown that modifications in local environment can induce the appearance of new features in the inelastic light scattering spectra of nanoparticles that do not follow the usual selection rules. In this sense, optical spectroscopy techniques represent a powerful tool to study the vibrational modes of nano-objects and address both their intrinsic properties and their interaction with light, which plays a key role fo…