A plasmonic fluid with dynamically tunable optical properties

We report the first synthesis of a gold nanorod (GNR)-based nanocomposite that exhibits solid-like plasmonic properties while behaving in a liquid-like manner. Tuning the degree of GNR clustering controls the material's responsiveness to external stimuli, such as mechanical shearing, due to the sensitivity of the localized surface plasmon resonance to interparticle interactions.We would like to acknowledge Prof. Lynden Archer for helpful discussions. This work was made possible by Award No. KUS-C1-018-02 made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology(KAUST). We acknowledge use of facilities at the Cornell Center for Materials Research, a National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (NSF DMR-0520404), and the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, also supported by the National Science Foundation and NIH-NIGMS(NSF DMR-0225180)