Quantitative Nanoplasmonics

Abstract

Plasmonics, the study of the interactions between photons and collective oscillations of electrons, has seen tremendous advances during the past decade. Controllable nanometer- and sub-nanometer-scale engineering in plasmonic resonance and electromagnetic field localization at the subwavelength scale have propelled diverse studies in optics, materials science, chemistry, biotechnology, energy science, and various applications in spectroscopy. However, for translation of these accomplishments from research into practice, major hurdles including low reproducibility and poor controllability in target structures must be overcome, particularly for reliable quantification of plasmonic signals and functionalities. This Outlook introduces and summarizes the recent attempts and findings of many groups toward more quantitative and reliable nanoplasmonics, and discusses the challenges and possible future directions.

Large‐Area 3D Plasmonic Crescents with Tunable Chirality

“…Circularly polarized light interacting with chiral nanostructures can result in two important optical effects: circular dichroism and optical rotatory dispersion. As a result of the strong interaction of plasmonic nanostructures with light at resonance, the optical response of chiroplasmonic nanostructures is magnitudes higher than that of their molecular counterpart . Consequently, chiral plasmonic nanostructures hold promise for applications in advanced optical components such as flat polarizers, hot electron generation on semiconductors, enantioselective detection of chiral molecules, and may improve the sensitivity in the plasmonic detection of achiral molecules, as recently demonstrated for hydrogen sensing …”

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nanostructures is magnitudes higher than that of their molecular counterpart. [5][6][7][8][9] Consequently, chiral plasmonic nanostructures hold promise for applications in advanced optical components such as flat polarizers, [10,11] hot electron generation on semiconductors, [12] enantioselective detection of chiral molecules, [6][7][8][9][13][14][15][16] and may improve the sensitivity in the plasmonic detection of achiral molecules, as recently demonstrated for hydrogen sensing. [17][18][19][20] Motivated by these applications, a range of complex nanostructures with extraordinary chiral properties has recently emerged.

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Long- and Short-Range Ordered Gold Nanoholes as Large-Area Optical Transducers in Sensing Applications

“…The top-down, unconventional lithographic techniques described above are particularly interesting for the fabrication of nanoplasmonics systems (i.e., metal nanoantennas and nanohole (NH) arrays) [29][30][31][32][33]. In particular, metallic NH arrays are being widely studied to get a basic understanding and optimization of their optical, as well as their applications in several fields (for instance, sub-wavelength photolithography [34,35], nonlinear optics (interferometric plasmonic lensing) [36,37], surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) [38,39], surface-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy [40][41][42], and especially as chemical sensors and biosensors [28,[43][44][45][46][47]).…”

Addressing the plasmonic hotspot region by site-specific functionalization of nanostructures

“…[1][2][3][4] Such hotspots can be useful to enhance properties arising from the interaction of radiation with the nanostructure and the surrounding environment and are therefore applied, for example, to increase the local temperature, 5 catalyze chemical reactions, 4,[6][7][8] increase photovoltaic efficiency, 9 or increase spectroscopic signals. 10,11 The latter has been particularly useful in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), 4 where optimized design of such hotspots has shown to be capable of the detection on the single-molecule level. 12,13 Two very recent reviews highlighted the use of plasmonic hot spots in chemical transformations and SERS, while underlining the demand for reliable methods for substrate fabrication.…”