Nanostructuring of Continuous Gold Film by Laser Radiation Under Surface Plasmon Polariton Resonance Conditions

Abstract

The physical mechanisms of metallic nanoparticles formation by laser technology were studied. The system air/ Au film/glass was irradiated by laser at the conditions of surface plasmon resonance. A surface electromagnetic wave was excited in Kretchmann configuration by the fundamental and second harmonics of the Q-switched YAG/Nd +3 laser with pulse power density close to the threshold of melting. Nanostructuring of Au film was observed only for the second harmonic (l=0.532 μm) irradiation at the surface plasmon polariton resonance (SPR) conditions. Estimations were done using the interference model of the differently directed plasmon polariton waves excited by a surface electromagnetic wave on the metal surface. It was shown that a regular pattern of locally heated spots can be formed in a metallic film by pulsed laser irradiation. The spatial distribution of this pattern is close to the period of interference. The observed effect of laser nanofragmentation is explained by the self-organization of plasmon polariton subsystem in the process of Au nanoparticles formation at high laser intensity levels. These methods open new possibilities for nanostructured surfaces formation utilizing simple self-organization processes.

Enhanced Electron Photoemission by Collective Lattice Resonances in Plasmonic Nanoparticle-Array Photodetectors and Solar Cells

“…These effects are strongly resonant, since they occur when the wavelength of incident light is close to the lattice period, satisfying the condition for the Rayleigh anomalies (RAs) in diffractive gratings [9,10,17,18]. The resonance conditions also give new possibilities of self-organizing process of Au film fragmentation and nanoparticles formation [19].…”

“…1a) can be viewed as a two-dimensional (2D) diffraction grating with periods a x and a y , where RAs occur at wavelengths λ RA (mx,my) , for which evanescent diffracted waves become propagating. In metallic gratings, RAs can be regarded as wavelengths where the grating couples the incident light to a surface plasmon-polariton wave propagating in the grating plane [15,[17][18][19]. For normal incidence of light, λ RA (mx,my) are determined by [17] x y 2 2 m (m ,m ) RA…”

Formation of Gold Microparticles by Ablation with Surface Plasmons

“…Plasmonics is a rapidly emerging technology for photonics, sensors, microscopy, data storage, and lithography. However, there is little work reported on the use of plasmonics for nanoscale manufacturing applications such as nanomachining and nanoparticle synthesis [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The coherent interference of surface plasmon polaritons was able to produce 50–70 nm diameter holes in silicon wafers [ 1 ].…”

“…Plasmonic effects strongly affected the aspect ratio of nanometer-sized holes in femtosecond laser ablation if the surface plasmon resonance conditions were met [ 2 ]. Nanofragmentation of gold thin films by 532 nm, 10 ns laser radiation in the system air/gold film/glass was achieved at surface plasmon resonance conditions [ 3 ]. The plasmonic effects aided in reducing the energy fluence required for thermal ablation and permitted self-organization of micro-ablation events [ 3 ].…”

“…Nanofragmentation of gold thin films by 532 nm, 10 ns laser radiation in the system air/gold film/glass was achieved at surface plasmon resonance conditions [ 3 ]. The plasmonic effects aided in reducing the energy fluence required for thermal ablation and permitted self-organization of micro-ablation events [ 3 ].…”