Plasmonic Behavior in Assemblies of Disordered Gold Nanoparticles
- Plasmons are collective oscillations of the free electron density in metals which can be described by an electromagnetic field. Surface plasmons are longitudinal waves propagating at the surface of the metallic material coupled to an external field. Localized surface plasmons on a nanoparticle reveal the behavior of standing waves with discrete resonance frequencies whose dominating mode is called dipole mode. Coupling of nanoparticles leads eventually to a hybridization of those dipole modes and therefore to spectral and spatial delocalization which was already investigated in ordered systems. In disordered systems, there are a lot of open questions regarding the propagation behavior which changes from delocalization to localization for instance due to the disorder. This phenomenon is then called Anderson localization. To investigate the propagation behavior of plasmonic waves in an assembly of disordered gold NPs, we combine experimental results of electron energy loss spectroscopyPlasmons are collective oscillations of the free electron density in metals which can be described by an electromagnetic field. Surface plasmons are longitudinal waves propagating at the surface of the metallic material coupled to an external field. Localized surface plasmons on a nanoparticle reveal the behavior of standing waves with discrete resonance frequencies whose dominating mode is called dipole mode. Coupling of nanoparticles leads eventually to a hybridization of those dipole modes and therefore to spectral and spatial delocalization which was already investigated in ordered systems. In disordered systems, there are a lot of open questions regarding the propagation behavior which changes from delocalization to localization for instance due to the disorder. This phenomenon is then called Anderson localization. To investigate the propagation behavior of plasmonic waves in an assembly of disordered gold NPs, we combine experimental results of electron energy loss spectroscopy in a scanning transmission microscope with simulation results of the self-consistent dipole modelling. We indeed find experimentally localization of plasmon modes and with the simulation we could exclude other localization mechanism such as life-time damping or retardation. In conclusion, we could found Anderson localization of surface plasmons in assemblies of disordered gold nanoparticles which will enhance the understanding of this kind of vector waves to the Anderson localization as a general wave behavior in disordered systems.…