Tamer A. Ali

Nanoparticles composed of magnetic cores with continuous Au shell layers simultaneously possess both magnetic and plasmonic properties. Faceted and tetracubic nanocrystals consisting of wüstite with magnetite-rich corners and edges retain magnetic properties when coated with a Au shell layer, with the composite nanostructures showing ferrimagnetic behavior. The plasmonic properties are profoundly influenced by the high dielectric constant of the mixed iron oxide nanocrystalline core. A comprehensive theoretical analysis that examines the geometric plasmon tunability over a range of core permittivities enables us to identify the dielectric properties of the mixed oxide magnetic core directly from the plasmonic behavior of the core−shell nanoparticle.

It is well-known that the geometry of a nanoshell controls the resonance frequencies of its plasmon modes; however, the properties of the core material also strongly influence its optical properties. Here we report the synthesis of Au nanoshells with semiconductor cores of cuprous oxide and examine their optical characteristics. This material system allows us to systematically examine the role of core material on nanoshell optical properties, comparing Cu2O core nanoshells (εc 7) to lower core dielectric constant SiO2 core nanoshells (εc = 2) and higher dielectric constant mixed valency iron oxide nanoshells (εc = 12). Increasing the core dielectric constant increases nanoparticle absorption efficiency, reduces plasmon line width, and modifies plasmon energies. Modifying the core medium provides an additional means of tailoring both the near- and far-field optical properties in this unique nanoparticle system.

Reduced-symmetry plasmonic nanostructures can be designed to support a range of novel optical phenomena, such as nanoscale control of the far-field scattering profile and magnetic resonances at optical frequencies. A family of reduced-symmetry nanostructures—plasmonic semishells with specifically shaped and oriented perforations introduced into the metallic shell layer—can be tailored to control these effects. Unlike core−shell nanoparticles, perforated semishells can be fabricated using a combination of clean-room techniques. For a semishell with a single spherical perforation positioned on its symmetry axis, we examine how the resonant modes of the structure depend on hole size and shape. Placing the perforation off the symmetry axis allows a family of higher-order modes to be excited in the nanostructure, along with complex near-field charge distributions for the various resonant modes. This reduced-symmetry case provides a platform for optical studies, which agree quite well with theoretical analysis. Our study also examines two important variations of this structure: a semishell with multiple perforations in the shell layer, and a semishell with a wedge-like “slice” in the shell layer. A semishell with a wedge-like perforation can be thought of as a three-dimensional analogue of a split-ring resonator (SRR), an important nanoscale component in metamaterial design. Here we show that the dimensions of the wedge-like perforation, which control the effective optical frequency resistance, inductance, and capacitance of this structure, determine the frequency of the magnetic mode.

Using the plasmon hybridization method, we investigate the optical properties of metallic tori of different shapes and for different polarizations. The plasmon energies are found to be strongly dependent on polarization and on the aspect ratio of the torus, which we define as the ratio of the radii of the two circles that define the structure. For incident light polarized in the plane of the torus, the optical spectrum is characterized by two features, a long wavelength highly tunable dipolar plasmon resonance, and a short wavelength mode corresponding to excitation of several higher order torus modes. For aspect ratios smaller than 0.8, we find that the energy of the tunable dipolar torus mode can be described analytically as an infinite cylinder plasmon of a wavelength equal to the length of the tube. For perpendicular polarization, the spectrum exhibits a single feature made up of several closely spaced higher order torus modes which are only weakly dependent on the aspect ratio. The calculated optical properties are found to be in excellent agreement with results from numerical finite difference time domain calculations and with results from other groups.

We present an investigation of the plasmon-induced electromagnetic near-field around gold nanocrescent (NC) antennas which exhibit localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) in the infrared. To probe the near-field behavior, we monitored the LSPR shift of NCs to adsorption of dielectric layers of varying thickness. The experimental results are analyzed using theoretical simulations, and the EM field decay lengths for the NCs are determined. We discuss how the structural properties of NC antennas influence the near-field properties and compare the results with the near-fields of other metal nanostructures. We show that the near-field distribution around NCs depends strongly on the structural parameters of the NC and that its spatial extent can be tuned to large distances (>700 nm) from the nanostructure surface. In addition, we discuss NC antenna structural changes associated with exposure to ethanol and buffer solutions and the impact on LSPR properties.

We present an experimental and theoretical analysis of the optical properties of gold nanorings of different sizes and cross-sections. We show that for light polarized parallel to the ring, the optical spectrum can depend sensitively on the angle of incidence. For normal incidence, the spectrum is characterized by two dipolar ring resonances. As the angle of incidence becomes more oblique, several previously dark multipolar ring resonances appear in the spectra. We show that the appearance of the multipolar resonances is a consequence of retardation and can be understood in simple general terms.