Invited Paper NS+EN-MoA8
Enhanced Light-Matter Interactions in Nanoparticle Arrays

Monday, November 10, 2014, 4:20 pm, Room 304

Metal nanostructures concentrate optical fields into highly confined, nanoscale volumes that can be exploited in a wide range of applications. This talk will describe new ways to design arrays of strongly coupled nanoparticles and plasmonic hetero-oligomers that can exhibit extraordinary properties such as plasmon lasing and enhanced gas sensing. First, we will describe a new type of nanocavity based on arrays of metal nanoparticles. These structures support lattice plasmon modes that can be amplified and that can result in room-temperature lasing with directional beam emission. Second, we will focus on nanoparticle assemblies composed of more than one type of material. Hetero-oligomers composed of strong and weak plasmonic materials (Au-Pd dimers and trimers) showed unusual wavelength shifts when subjected to hydrogen gas. We performed detailed modeling to understand the near-field coupling responsible for these amplified light-matter interactions.