Plasmonic structures can be used to enhance electromagnetic radiation, and nanoscale (<5 nm) gaps can increase this enhancement even further. Fabrication of these desired structures involves using a relatively new, previously developed self-aligned process to overcome typical electron beam lithography resolution limits. The resulting nanogap structures have been shown to exhibit enhanced optical emission. This technique enables the fabrication of a large-area two-dimensional matrix of such nanostructures which could prove useful for photovoltaics, plasmonically enhanced Raman spectroscopy, biosensing, and other optoelectronic applications. Computational electromagnetic simulations of the structures will prove useful for predicting behavior upon interaction with light and for experimental comparison.

Date Published: 10 September 2014
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9163, Plasmonics: Metallic Nanostructures and Their Optical Properties XII, 91631A (10 September 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2061899

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9163:
Plasmonics: Metallic Nanostructures and Their Optical Properties XII
Allan D. Boardman, Editor(s)