Fowler鈥揘ordheim Tunneling Induced Charge Transfer Plasmons between Nearly Touching Nanoparticles

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• 作者：Lin Wu ; Huigao Duan ; Ping Bai ; Michel Bosman ; Joel K. W. Yang ; Erping Li
• 刊名：ACS Nano
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：January 22, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：7
• 期：1
• 页码：707-716
• 全文大小：684K
• 年卷期：v.7,no.1(January 22, 2013)
• ISSN：1936-086X

文摘

Reducing the gap between two metal nanoparticles down to atomic dimensions uncovers novel plasmon resonant modes. Of particular interest is a mode known as the charge transfer plasmon (CTP). This mode has been experimentally observed in touching nanoparticles, where charges can shuttle between the nanoparticles via a conductive path. However, the CTP mode for nearly touching nanoparticles has only been predicted theoretically to occur via direct tunneling when the gap is reduced to 0.4 nm. Because of challenges in fabricating and characterizing gaps at these dimensions, experiments have been unable to provide evidence for this plasmon mode that is supported by tunneling. In this work, we consider an alternative tunneling process, that is, the well-known Fowler鈥揘ordheim (FN) tunneling that occurs at high electric fields, and apply it for the first time in the theoretical investigation of plasmon resonances between nearly touching nanoparticles. This new approach relaxes the requirements on gap dimensions, and intuitively suggests that with a sufficiently high-intensity irradiation, the CTP can be excited via FN tunneling for a range of subnanometer gaps. The unique feature of FN tunneling induced CTP is the ability to turn on and off the charge transfer by varying the intensity of an external light source, and this could inspire the development of novel quantum devices.

Keywords:

quantum plasmonics; charge transfer plasmons; nearly touching nanoparticles; direct tunneling; Fowler鈭扤ordheim tunneling