Plasmons are the collective excitations of free electrons in a material.

The focus light into nanoscale volumes thereby increasing the local electromagnetic field by many orders of magnitude. The localized plasmons of metallic nanostructures can be excited by light. They strongly alter the optical response of nearby molecules and low-dimensional systems through their optical near fields. For example, light scattering increases in intensity by up to eight orders of magnitude.

In this course we will first read exemplary papers on plasmonic enhancement from the recent literature. We will develop a series of seminar topics based on the interest and prior knowledge of the students. The talks may cover experimental and theoretical topics.

Nanoplasmonics is a highly interdisciplinary with research questions from physics, chemistry, and materials science.

Review articles on nanoplasmonics:

1) Collection in Chemical Society Reviews, Nanoplasmonics, Chemical Society Reviews 43, 3813 (2014).

2) V. Giannini, A. I. Fernández-Domínguez, Y. Sonnefraud, T. Roschuk, R.

Fernández-García, and S. A. Maier, Controlling Light Localization and Light–Matter Interactions with Nanoplasmonics, Small 6, 2498 (2010)

3) S. Lal, S. Link, N. J. Halas, Nano-optics from sensing to waveguiding, Nature Photonics 1, 641 (2007)

4) W. A. Murray and W. L. Barnes, Plasmonic Materials, Advanced Materials 19, 3771 (2007)