Department of Physics![]() |
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University
Metal-dielectric nanostructured composite materials, which can support various plasmon modes, open new avenues for manipulating and controlling light with light itself and sensing single molecules [1,2]. Fundamentals of the optical properties of meso- and nano-structured plasmonic materials, both ordered and disordered, are reviewed in this lecture. Plasmonic nanomaterials allow the focusing of light in nanometer-scale areas, which act like highly efficient nano-antennas and nano-resonators. I will discuss new phenomena in plasmonic nanomaterials, such as negative refractive index, extraordinary optical transmittance, plasmonic band-gap structure, disorder-induced localization of plasmons, and surface-enhanced nonlinear optical effects. Plasmonic nanomaterials open up new feasibility to develop photonic nano-circuits and detect molecules with unsurpassed sensitivity.
References: