Open AccessOptical properties and plasmonic response of silver-gallium nanostructures
Author(s) -
Aude L. Lereu,
Fabien Lemarchand,
Myriam Zerrad,
Masoud Yazdanpanah,
Ali Passian
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of applied physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.699
H-Index - 319
eISSN - 1089-7550
pISSN - 0021-8979
DOI - 10.1063/1.4906950
Subject(s) - plasmon , gallium , materials science , optoelectronics , excitation , nanomaterials , nanostructure , surface plasmon , photon energy , surface plasmon resonance , dielectric , nanotechnology , photon , optics , nanoparticle , physics , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
International audienceSilver and gallium form an alloy Ag2Ga via a room temperature spontaneous self-assembly thatexhibits remarkable mechanical and electrical properties suitable for nanoscale measurements.However, whether photon excitation of plasmons in this emerging nanomaterial is retained or nothas not been established. Here, we present a thin film formation of Ag2Ga via a spreading-reactiveprocess of liquid Ga on an Ag film and a characterization of its dielectric function !(E)¼!1(E)þi!2(E) in the photon energy range 1.42 eV#E<4.2 eV. It is observed that while the plasmondamping increases, near an energy of 2.25 eV, the real part of ! exhibits a crossing with respect tothat of Ag. Furthermore, the impact of new plasmon supporting materials is discussed and in orderto enable further applications in plasmonics, the possibility of photon excitation of surface plasmonsin Ag2Ga is studied