What is it about?
Plasmonic resonances, collective oscillations of metal electrons coupled to electromagnetic fields, are very sensitive to the kind and quality of the nanoparticle material. Gold is used very often to build plasmonic devices, because it is relatively easy to handle and stable in ambient conditions. However, gold is often evaporated to achieve thin layers which are needed as raw material. It then consists of many small crystallites which hamper fabrication and performance of plasmonic devices. Here, chemically synthesized flat gold flakes are tested as novel raw material. As they are monocrystalline, they prove superior compared to evaporated films in all respects, except of material placement.
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Why is it important?
Many applications of plasmonic resonances can only be realized with monocrystalline raw material: large area circuits, free floating structures, etc. Together with later advancements in gold flake size and placement, gold now can be obtained in perfect quality for nano-scaled plasmonic experiments.
Perspectives
This work is the basis of many results in fundamental plasmonic research, especially concerning long waveguides, where a precise fabrication is crucial and low losses are important.
Dr Thorsten Viktor Feichtner
Julius-Maximilians-Universitat Wurzburg
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Atomically flat single-crystalline gold nanostructures for plasmonic nanocircuitry, Nature Communications, December 2010, Nature,
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1143.
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