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Title: Anomalous ultrafast dynamics of hot plasmonic electrons in nanostructures with hot spots

Journal Article · · Nature Nanotechnology
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [2]
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Emory Univ., Atlanta, GA (United States)
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  3. Ohio Univ., Athens, OH (United States)

The interaction of light and matter in metallic nanosystems is mediated by the collective oscillation of surface electrons, called plasmons. After excitation, plasmons are absorbed by the metal electrons through inter- and intraband transitions, creating a highly non-thermal distribution of electrons. The electron population then decays through electron-electron interactions, creating a hot electron distribution within a few hundred femtoseconds, followed by a further relaxation via electron-phonon scattering on the timescale of a few pico-seconds. In the spectral domain, hot plasmonic electrons induce changes to the plasmonic resonance of the nanostructure by modifying the dielectric constant of the metal. Here, we report on the observation of anomalously strong changes to the ultrafast temporal and spectral responses of these excited hot plasmonic electrons in hybrid metal/oxide nanostructures as a result of varying the geometry and composition of the nanostructure and the excitation wavelength. In particular, we show a large ultrafast, pulsewidth-limited contribution to the excited electron decay signal in hybrid nanostructures containing hot spots. The intensity of this contribution correlates with the efficiency of the generation of highly excited surface electrons. Using theoretical models, we attribute this effect to the generation of hot plasmonic electrons from hot spots. Finally, we then develop general principles to enhance the generation of energetic electrons through specifically designed plasmonic nanostructures that could be used in applications where hot electron generation is beneficial, such as in solar photocatalysis, photodetectors and nonlinear devices.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1354829
Journal Information:
Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 10, Issue 9; ISSN 1748-3387
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 216 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Broadband Metamaterial Absorbers journal October 2018
“Hot” in Plasmonics: Temperature‐Related Concepts and Applications of Metal Nanostructures journal November 2019
Interface-Engineered Plasmonics in Metal/Semiconductor Heterostructures journal June 2016
Light-Induced Tuning and Reconfiguration of Nanophotonic Structures: Light-Induced Tuning and Reconfiguration of Nanophotonic Structures journal August 2017
Insight into plasmonic hot-electron transfer and plasmon molecular drive: new dimensions in energy conversion and nanofabrication journal December 2017
Nonlinear photonic metasurfaces journal March 2017
Evolution from the plasmon to exciton state in ligand-protected atomically precise gold nanoparticles journal October 2016
Plasmonic hot electron transport drives nano-localized chemistry journal March 2017
Ultrafast switching of tunable infrared plasmons in indium tin oxide nanorod arrays with large absolute amplitude journal February 2016
Direct observation of ultrafast plasmonic hot electron transfer in the strong coupling regime journal January 2019
“Hot” electrons in metallic nanostructures—non-thermal carriers or heating? journal October 2019
Enhanced generation and anisotropic Coulomb scattering of hot electrons in an ultra-broadband plasmonic nanopatch metasurface journal October 2017
Electron heating and thermal relaxation of gold nanorods revealed by two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy journal March 2018
Determination of hot carrier energy distributions from inversion of ultrafast pump-probe reflectivity measurements journal May 2018
Disentangling charge carrier from photothermal effects in plasmonic metal nanostructures journal June 2019
Designer photonic dynamics by using non-uniform electron temperature distribution for on-demand all-optical switching times journal July 2019
From plasmon-enhanced molecular spectroscopy to plasmon-mediated chemical reactions journal August 2018
Plasmon-induced hot electron transfer in AgNW@TiO2@AuNPs nanostructures journal September 2018
Ultrafast and nonlinear surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy journal January 2016
Hybrid nanostructures of metal/two-dimensional nanomaterials for plasmon-enhanced applications journal January 2016
Generation of hot electrons in nanostructures incorporating conventional and unconventional plasmonic materials journal January 2019
Direct optical excitation of dark plasmons for hot electron generation journal January 2019
Nanoscale tracking plasmon-driven photocatalysis in individual nanojunctions by vibrational spectroscopy journal January 2018
Highly efficient plasmon-mediated electron injection into cerium oxide from embedded silver nanoparticles journal January 2019
Tunable surface plasmon polaritons and ultrafast dynamics in 2D nanohole arrays journal January 2019
Electrocatalytic glycerol oxidation enabled by surface plasmon polariton-induced hot carriers in Kretschmann configuration journal January 2019
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Ultrafast light-induced softening of chalcogenide thin films above the rigidity percolation transition journal September 2018
In situ detection of hot-electron-induced photocatalytic reduction using Au@Ag, Au@Ag 2 S, and Au@SiO 2 core-shell nanoparticles journal May 2019
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Hot carrier dynamics in a dispersionless plasmonic system journal December 2019
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Dual-plasmonic Au/graphene/Au-enhanced ultrafast, broadband, self-driven silicon Schottky photodetector journal October 2018
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Enhancement of electron hot spot relaxation in photoexcited plasmonic structures by thermal diffusion journal November 2016
Transport of hot carriers in plasmonic nanostructures journal July 2019
Nonlinear optics in all-dielectric nanoantennas and metasurfaces: a review journal March 2019
Optical plasmon nanostrip probe as an effective ultrashort pulse delivery system journal January 2019
Plasmonic hot carrier dynamics in solid-state and chemical systems for energy conversion journal January 2016
Exciton-plasmon polariton coupling and hot carrier generation in two-dimensional SiB semiconductors: a first-principles study journal February 2020
Nanoplasmon–Semiconductor Hybrid for Interface Catalysis journal September 2018
The UV Plasmonic Behavior of Distorted Rhodium Nanocubes journal December 2017
Fano Resonance on Nanostructured Lithium Niobate for Highly Efficient and Tunable Second Harmonic Generation journal January 2019
Direct optical excitation of dark plasmons for hot electron generation text January 2019
Multigaps Embedded Nanoassemblies Enhance In Situ Raman Spectroscopy for Intracellular Telomerase Activity Sensing journal October 2020
Ab initio phonon coupling and optical response of hot electrons in plasmonic metals text January 2016
Enhancement of electron hot spot relaxation in photoexcited plasmonic structures by thermal diffusion text January 2016
Experimental and ab initio ultrafast carrier dynamics in plasmonic nanoparticles text January 2016
Ultrafast light-induced softening of chalcogenide thin films above the rigidity percolation transition text January 2018
Hot carrier dynamics in a dispersionless plasmonic system text January 2019
Coherent Control of the Non-instantaneous Nonlinear Power-law Response in Resonant Nanostructures text January 2019