Metal coverage dependence of local optical properties of semicontinuous metallic films

Semicontinuous silver films on insulator substrates, which exhibit unique electrical and optical properties, were studied experimentally and theoretically. The percolation threshold of the films, which were synthesized by laser ablation, was determined from a combination of studies of the surface morphology by electron microscopy and the dc electrical resistance as a function of metal concentration. Local optical properties measured by near-field optical microscopy were compared with theoretical results obtained using the Block elimination method, with good agreement. Local field distributions were found to depend on the metal concentration and wavelength of illumination. The degree of localization was found to increase at metal concentrations above and below the percolation threshold.

[1]  S. Bozhevolnyi,et al.  Statistics of local field intensity enhancements at nanostructured surfaces investigated with a near-field optical microscope , 2001 .

[2]  Vadim A Markel and Thomas F George Optics of Nanostructured Materials , 2001 .

[3]  V. Shalaev,et al.  NONLINEAR OPTICS OF RANDOM METAL-DIELECTRIC FILMS , 1998 .

[4]  M. Ohring The Materials Science of Thin Films , 1991 .

[5]  David J. Bergman,et al.  Physical Properties of Macroscopically Inhomogeneous Media , 1992 .

[6]  R. Dasari,et al.  Single Molecule Detection Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) , 1997 .

[7]  Vladimir M. Shalaev,et al.  Electromagnetic properties of small-particle composites , 1996 .

[8]  George,et al.  Giant fluctuations of local optical fields in fractal clusters. , 1994, Physical review letters.

[9]  Vladimir M. Shalaev,et al.  Optical properties of nanostructured random media , 2002 .

[10]  O. Hunderi,et al.  Optical properties of ultrafine gold particles , 1977 .

[11]  Vladimir M. Shalaev,et al.  Near-field optical studies of semicontinuous metal films , 2001 .

[12]  Vladimir M. Shalaev,et al.  Electromagnetic field fluctuations and optical nonlinearities in metal-dielectric composites , 2000 .

[13]  Vladimir P. Safonov,et al.  Near-field optical study of selective photomodification of fractal aggregates , 2001 .

[14]  W. D. Bragg,et al.  PERCOLATION AND FRACTAL COMPOSITES: OPTICAL STUDIES , 2000 .

[15]  S. Redner,et al.  Introduction To Percolation Theory , 2018 .

[16]  V. Shalaev Nonlinear Optics of Random Media: Fractal Composites and Metal-Dielectric Films , 1999 .

[17]  Vladimir M. Shalaev,et al.  EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATION OF LOCALIZED OPTICAL EXCITATIONS IN RANDOM METAL-DIELECTRIC FILMS , 1999 .

[18]  E. B. McDaniel,et al.  An impedance based non‐contact feedback control system for scanning probe microscopes , 1996 .

[19]  Vladimir M. Shalaev,et al.  Anderson localization of surface plasmons and nonlinear optics of metal-dielectric composites , 1999 .

[20]  Vladimir M. Shalaev,et al.  Local electric and magnetic fields in semicontinuous metal films: Beyond the quasistatic approximation , 2000 .

[21]  Vladimir M. Shalaev,et al.  Theory of giant Raman scattering from semicontinuous metal films , 1997 .