Mega-electron-volt ion beam induced anisotropic plasmon resonance of silver nanocrystals in glass

Abstract

Mega-electron-volt ion beam induced anisotropic plasmon resonance of silver nanocrystals in glass Penninkhof, J. J.; Polman, A.; Sweatlock, L. A.; Maier, S. A.; Atwater, H. A.; Vredenberg, A. M.; Kooi, B. J. 30 MeV Si ion beam irradiation of silica glass containing Ag nanocrystals causes alignment of Ag nanocrystals in arrays along the ion tracks. Optical transmission measurements show a large splitting of the surface plasmon resonance bands for polarizations longitudinal and transversal to the arrays. The splitting is in qualitative agreement with a model for near-field electromagnetic plasmon coupling within the arrays. Resonance shifts as large as 1.5 eV are observed, well into the near-infrared.

Ion beam induced nanosized Ag metal clusters in glass

“…This finding has to be attributed to the higher energy density being transferred to the electronic system of the material which seems to be sufficiently high enough above the threshold for ion track formation in these glasses in the case of irradiation with Si ions used in Ref. [7] and well above the threshold in the case of the Au ion irradiation used in our previous [8] and present investigation.…”

“…Studies using laser irradiation and irradiations with light or low energy ions with only little energy transfer to the electrons in the material ("electronic stopping") combined with annealing procedures already showed some influence on the cluster formation and size distribution [5,6]. In the most recent studies using swift heavy ions, a "directionality" showed up as a special feature of the metallic cluster formation in glass: metallic silver clusters were observed in a chain-like arrangement along the direction of the ion beam [7,8]. This finding has to be attributed to the higher energy density being transferred to the electronic system of the material which seems to be sufficiently high enough above the threshold for ion track formation in these glasses in the case of irradiation with Si ions used in Ref.…”

Engineering embedded metal nanoparticles with ion beam technology

“…One is post-implantation treatment, such as annealing in different atmospheres [10] or ion irradiation. The embedded spherical NPs can be transfer to rodlike shape [11,12] or caused alignment of NP [13] by swift ion irradiation, which is leading to the anisotropic surface plasmon resonance of NPs. Although various models, like Coulomb explosion [14], viscoelastic model [15], ion hammering effect [16] and thermal spike model [17], are used as possible mechanisms to explain the change, the exact mechanisms responsible for NC shape transformation still need to be further investigated.…”

Ion beam shaping of Au nanoparticles in silica: Particle size and concentration dependence

“…1, 2 In particular, when light impinges onto a metallic NP, its free conduction electrons may respond collectively by oscillating in resonance. This collective resonant excitation, which occurs in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum, is known as a surface plasmon resonance ͑SPR͒.…”