Electron-Energy Loss Study of Nonlocal Effects in Connected Plasmonic Nanoprisms

We investigate the emergence of nonlocal effects in plasmonic nanostructures through electron-energy loss spectroscopy. To theoretically describe the spatial dispersion in the metal permittivity, we develop a full three-dimensional nonlocal hydrodynamic solution of Maxwell’s equations in frequency d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS nano 2013-07, Vol.7 (7), p.6287-6296
Main Authors: Wiener, Aeneas, Duan, Huigao, Bosman, Michel, Horsfield, Andrew P, Pendry, John B, Yang, Joel K. W, Maier, Stefan A, Fernández-Domínguez, Antonio I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computer Simulation
Electron Transport
Emergence
Energy Transfer
Grain boundaries
Light
Line current
Mathematical models
Maxwell's equations
Models, Theoretical
Nanoparticles - chemistry
Nanoparticles - radiation effects
Nanoparticles - ultrastructure
Nanostructure
Plasmonics
Quantum confinement
Refractometry - methods
Scattering, Radiation
Surface Plasmon Resonance - methods
Three dimensional
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Summary:We investigate the emergence of nonlocal effects in plasmonic nanostructures through electron-energy loss spectroscopy. To theoretically describe the spatial dispersion in the metal permittivity, we develop a full three-dimensional nonlocal hydrodynamic solution of Maxwell’s equations in frequency domain that implements the electron beam as a line current source. We use our numerical approach to perform an exhaustive analysis of the impact of nonlocality in the plasmonic response of single triangular prisms and connected bowtie dimers. Our results demonstrate the complexity of the interplay between nonlocal and geometric effects taking place in these structures. We show the different sensitivities to both effects of the various plasmonic modes supported by these systems. Finally, we present an experimental electron-energy loss study on gold nanoprisms connected by bridges as narrow as 1.6 nm. The comparison with our theoretical predictions enables us to reveal in a phenomenological fashion the enhancement of absorption damping that occurs in these atomistic junctions due to quantum confinement and grain boundary electron scattering.
ISSN:1936-0851
1936-086X
DOI:10.1021/nn402323t