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Optical responses of a metal with sub-nm gaps

If the size of a metallic structure is reduced to be comparable to or even smaller than the typical quantum-mechanical lengths such as the Fermi wavelength or Thomas-Fermi wavelength, the electronic structure and optical responses are modulated by quantum effects. Here, we calculate the optical resp...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Park, Sang Jun, Kim, Tae Yun, Park, Cheol-Hwan, Kim, Dai-Sik
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4786824/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26964884
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep22981
Descripción
Sumario:If the size of a metallic structure is reduced to be comparable to or even smaller than the typical quantum-mechanical lengths such as the Fermi wavelength or Thomas-Fermi wavelength, the electronic structure and optical responses are modulated by quantum effects. Here, we calculate the optical responses of a metal with sub-nm gaps using the eigenstates obtained from an effective-mass quantum theory. According to our simulation, the dielectric responses can be significantly modified by tuning the inter-gap distances. Remarkably, sub-nm gaps occupying a 0.3% volumetric fraction can elongate the penetration depth by an order of magnitude in the terahertz regime. We find that the detailed dependences of electron-photon interaction matrix elements on the involved electronic wavefunctions play an important role in the optical responses. The results draw our attention to these recently fabricated systems.