Imaging of surface plasmons may be a lot easier than previously thought

Nanomaterials, consisting of extremely small particles or thin layers, tend to acquire unexpected properties. Optical nanomaterials are a class of materials that have emerged over the last ten years and that have quickly become a hot topic in material science due to their counterintuitive optical behavior and revolutionary potential applications. Optical nanomaterials are mainly based on surface plasmon resonances -- the property whereby, in metallic nanostructures, light can collectively excite surface electron waves. These electron waves have the same frequency as light, but much shorter wavelengths, which allow their manipulation at the nanoscale. In other words, with the help of plasmons, light can be captured, modified and even stored in nanostructures. This emerging technology finds applications in surprising areas, ranging from cancer treatment (by targeting cancer cells with nanoparticles that will produce heat when excited) to invisibility (by causing light to follow a trail of nanoparticles, that acts as an invisibility cloak to whatever is underneath them).

The imaging of surface plasmons provides a direct way to map and understand the local electric fields that are responsible for the unusual electromagnetic properties of optical nanomaterials. However, the imaging of surface plasmons is quite challenging. While there are methods to image plasmons with high resolution, they come at a considerable increase in both cost and complexity. But now, Ventsislav K. Valev and his colleagues have demonstrated a powerful and user friendly method for imaging plasmonic patterns in nanostructures.

"We were performing routine characterization of freshly grown samples, when I asked Yogesh, one of our Ph.D. students, to look at a sample that had already been studied. There was absolutely no reason to do this; I just had a hunch," sais Ventsislav Valev. "Surprisingly, this sample appeared to be decorated and I immediately recognized the pattern. Somehow, the optical properties have been imprinted on the surface of the nanostructures."

The scientists indeed found out that upon illuminating nanostructures made of nickel or palladium, the resulting surface plasmon pattern is imprinted on the structures themselves. This imprinting is done through displacing material from the nanostructure to the regions where the plasmon enhancements are the largest. In this manner, the plasmons are effectively decorated, allowing for subsequent imaging with standard surface probe techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy or atomic force microscopy. The imprinting method is quite unique, combining aspects of both imaging and writing techniques.

This research is described in an upcoming paper in the journal Physical Review Letters.