Optical Encoding by Plasmon-Based Patterning: Hard and Inorganic Materials Become Photosensitive

• Published in: Nano letters 2012-01, Vol.12 (1), p.259-263
• Main Authors: Siozios, A, Koutsogeorgis, D. C, Lidorikis, E, Dimitrakopulos, G. P, Kehagias, Th, Zoubos, H, Komninou, Ph, Cranton, W. M, Kosmidis, C, Patsalas, P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collective excitations (including excitons, polarons, plasmons and other charge-density excitations); Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Dielectric strength; Durability; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Encoding; Exact sciences and technology; Hardness; Information Storage and Retrieval - methods; Inorganic Chemicals - chemistry; Inorganic Chemicals - radiation effects; Light; Macromolecular Substances - chemistry; Macromolecular Substances - radiation effects; Materials science; Materials Testing; Methods of nanofabrication; Molecular Conformation - radiation effects; Molecular Imprinting - methods; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanoscale pattern formation; Nanostructure; Nanostructures - chemistry; Nanostructures - radiation effects; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of low-dimensional, mesoscopic, and nanoscale materials and structures; Particle Size; Photosensitivity; Physics; Recrystallization; Refractometry - methods; Silver; Spectra; Stems; Surface and interface electron states; Surface Plasmon Resonance - methods; Surface Properties - radiation effects
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl2034738

The photosensitivity of nanocomposite AlN films with embedded silver nanospheres is reported. It stems from localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) whose modulation is photoinduced by laser annealing that induces a combined effect of metallic nanoparticle enlargement and dielectric matrix recrystallization; the photoindunced changes of the refractive index of the matrix result in strong spectral shift of LSPR. We demonstrate the utilization of this process for spectrally selective optical encoding into hard, durable, and chemically inert films.