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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Nanophotopolymerization Triggered by the Enhanced Optical Near Field of Metallic Nanoparticles

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International audience; A novel approach is reported for imaging and quantifying both the depth and the strength of the optical near-field, of a single colloidal metal nanoparticle, associated with localized surface plasmons. It will be emphasized that this technique relies on a nanoscale molecular molding of the confined electromagnetic field of metal colloids, irradiated at their resonance, by a photo-activated polymer, which enabled us to directly image the dipolar profile of the near-field distribution with an unprecedented resolution, better than 10 nm. Moreover, the approach used enabled one to quantify the near-field enhancement factor. This approach has overcome all the difficulties faced by scanning probe methodologies to reproduce the form of the near-field of the localized surface plasmons and provides a new way to quantify its magnitude. Furthermore, this approach leads to the production of polymer/metal hybrid nano-systems of new optical properties.