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Title: Nonradiative Plasmon Decay and Hot Carrier Dynamics: Effects of Phonons, Surfaces, and Geometry

Journal Article · · ACS Nano

The behavior of metals across a broad frequency range from microwave to ultraviolet frequencies is of interest in plasmonics, nanophotonics, and metamaterials. Depending on the frequency, losses of collective excitations in metals can be predominantly classical resistive effects or Landau damping. In this context, we present first-principles calculations that capture all of the significant microscopic mechanisms underlying surface plasmon decay and predict the initial excited carrier distributions so generated. Particularly, we include ab initio predictions of phonon-assisted optical excitations in metals, which are critical to bridging the frequency range between resistive losses at low frequencies and direct interband transitions at high frequencies. In the commonly used plasmonic materials, gold, silver, copper, and aluminum, we find that resistive losses compete with phonon-assisted carrier generation below the interband threshold, but hot carrier generation via direct transitions dominates above threshold. Furthermore, we predict energy-dependent lifetimes and mean free paths of hot carriers, accounting for electron–electron and electron–phonon scattering, to provide insight toward transport of plasmonically generated carriers at the nanoscale.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion (LMI)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001293; SC0004993; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1371056
Journal Information:
ACS Nano, Vol. 10, Issue 1; Related Information: LMI partners with California Institute of Technology (lead); Harvard University; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; ISSN 1936-0851
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 469 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Plasmon-Induced Hot-Carrier Generation differences in Gold and Silver Nanoclusters preprint March 2019
Light from van der Waals quantum tunneling devices text January 2019
Plasmonic tunnel junctions for single-molecule redox chemistry text January 2017
Ab initio phonon coupling and optical response of hot electrons in plasmonic metals text January 2016
Experimental and ab initio ultrafast carrier dynamics in plasmonic nanoparticles text January 2016
Hot carrier dynamics in plasmonic transition metal nitrides text January 2018
Lead-Related Quantum Emitters in Diamond text January 2018
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