Ultraviolet-visible interband plasmonics with p-block elements

14 págs.; 4 figs. ; OCIS codes: (160.0160) Materials; (160.4760) Optical properties; (250.5403) Plasmonics; (260.5740) Resonance;\ud(240.5420) Polaritons; (300.0300) SpectroscopyWe investigate the origin of the ultraviolet - visible plasmonic properties of three elemental materials from the p-block: Bi, Sb and Ga, which has not been discussed so far despite growing interest in these materials for plasmonic applications. We review and analyze a broad range of optically-determined dielectric functions ε = ε + jε of these elemental materials available in the literature, covering a wide photon energy range (from 0.03 to 24 eV). It is shown that the contribution of free carriers to ε in the ultraviolet - visible is negligible for Bi and Sb and small for Ga. In contrast, the interband transitions of these elemental materials show a high oscillator strength that yields a strong negative contribution to ε in the ultraviolet - visible. Therefore it is proposed that, in nanostructures made of these elemental materials, the interband transitions induce localized surface plasmon-like resonances in the ultraviolet - visible. It is exemplified how these resonances are sensitive to the size and environment of the nanostructures. Furthermore, ultraviolet - visible plasmonic properties achieved through interband transitions, without free carrier excitation, are especially appealing because they might be tuned through the tailoring of the band structure and by the occupancy of electronic states. Therefore they are promising for the development of broadly tunable nanostructures and metamaterials. ©2016 Optical Society of AmericaWe acknowledge the Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness (Projects TEC\ud2012-38901-C02-01 and TEC2015-69916-C2-1-R).Peer Reviewe