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Non-local Quantum Plasmon Resonance in Ultra-small Silver Nanoparticles

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Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms of light–matter interactions in ultra-small plasmonic nanoparticles (USNP) represents a major challenge because of the importance of size dependence and quantum effects. The plasmon resonance in such small metallic nanoparticles (< 5 nm) exhibits substantial deviation from classical theory predictions, with evident frequency shifts to a higher energy. This is due to the quantum nature of the free charge carriers and the dynamic response of metallic nanoparticle to the self-consistent electromagnetic fields. Such phenomena have so far been poorly understood in experiments while classical theory has mostly focused on nanostructures and sidestepped the size dependence. Here we report a quantum mechanical model of the metal permittivity to describe the USNP behaviour and experimental evidence. The proposed non-local quantum model of the permittivity for the propagation of plasmon waves in quantum-confined silver nanoparticles has no size limitations in the UNSP range.

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All the required information is presented in the manuscript; further clarifications are available from the corresponding author upon a reasonable request.

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Funding

This project was supported by the School of Physics (University of Sydney).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Photonics and Optical Science (IPOS), School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    M. Moaied & S. Palomba

  2. Complex Systems, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    M. Moaied & K. Ostrikov

  3. School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia

    K. Ostrikov

  4. The University of Sydney Nano Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    S. Palomba

Authors
  1. M. Moaied
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  2. K. Ostrikov
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  3. S. Palomba
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Contributions

M.M. conceived the idea and performed the calculations. K.O. conceptualized the ideas. S.P. suggested to use published experimental data to validate the model. M.M wrote the manuscript with input from S.P. and K.O. K.O and S.P. supervised and guided the project.

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Correspondence to S. Palomba.

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Moaied, M., Ostrikov, K. & Palomba, S. Non-local Quantum Plasmon Resonance in Ultra-small Silver Nanoparticles. Plasmonics 16, 1261–1267 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-021-01403-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-021-01403-y

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