Tailoring Optical and Plasmon Resonances in Core-shell and Core-multishell Nanowires for Visible Range Negative Refraction and Plasmonic Light Harvesting: A Review

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2015.01.004

Abstract

Abstract: Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are sub-wavelength structures which exhibit strong optical (Mie) resonances in the visible range. In addition to such optical resonances, the localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) in metal-semiconductor core-shell (CS) and core-multishell (CMS) NWs can be tailored to achieve novel negative-index metamaterials (NIM), extreme absorbers, invisibility cloaks and sensors. Particularly, in this review, we focus on our recent theoretical studies which highlight the versatility of CS and CMS NWs for: 1) the design of negative-index metamaterials in the visible range and 2) plasmonic light harvesting in ultrathin photocatalyst layers for water splitting. Utilizing the LSPR in the metal layer and the magnetic dipole (Mie) resonance in the semiconductor shell under transverse electric (TE) polarization, semiconductor-metal-semiconductor CMS NWs can be designed to exhibit spectrally overlapping electric and magnetic resonances in the visible range. NWs exhibiting such double resonances can be considered as meta-atoms and arrayed to form polarization dependent, low-loss NIM. Alternatively, by tuning the LSPR in the TE polarization and the optical resonance in the transverse magnetic (TM) polarization of metal-photocatalyst CS and semiconductor-metal-photocatalyst CMS NWs, the absorption within ultrathin (sub-50 nm) photocatalyst layers can be substantially enhanced. Notably, aluminum and copper based NWs provide absorption enhancement remarkably close to silver and gold based NWs, respectively. Further, such absorption is polarization independent and remains high over a large range of incidence angles and permittivity of the medium. Therefore, due to the tunability of their optical properties, CS and CMS NWs are expected to be vital components for the design of nanophotonic devices.

Key words: Nanowires, Core-shell, Core-multishell, Negative refraction, Metamaterials, Scalable plasmonics, Plasmonic light harvesting, Solar hydrogen

Sarath Ramadurgam, Tzu-Ging Lin, Chen Yang. Tailoring Optical and Plasmon Resonances in Core-shell and Core-multishell Nanowires for Visible Range Negative Refraction and Plasmonic Light Harvesting: A Review[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2015, 31(6): 533-541.

Figures/Tables 8

Schematic of CMS NWs under oblique polarized incidence. Magnetic field and electric field perpendicular to the NW axis in Case I and Case II, respectively. Adapted with permission from Ref. [33]. ©

2014 ACS.

(a) Total scattering efficiency and contributions of the first (magnetic) and second (electric) Mie coefficients of a Si (80 nm dia.)-Ag (20 nm)-Si (30 nm) CMS nanowire under TE illumination. Inset: schematic representation of the CMS nanowire structure. (b) and (c) are the corresponding normalized electric and magnetic polarizability, respectively. The shaded grey region represents the spectral region of double resonance. (d) Schematic of plasmon hybridization in CMS NW. (e) Magnetic and electric near-field contours at 660 nm. Reprinted from Ref. [30].

(a) Real part (green curve) and imaginary part (blue curve) of the effective refractive index, (b) corresponding FOM of a slab of hexagonally packed Si (80 nm dia.)-Ag (20 nm)-Si (30 nm) nanowire array under TE plane-wave illumination (α

= 20°

). The error bars in the real part of the refractive index (green curve) are estimated based on the ±

2°

error assumed while measuring the refracted angle. Inset: schematic of the slab based on CMS nanowires arranged in a hexagonal lattice. (c) Imaginary part (green curve) and m = 0 branch of the real part (blue curve) of the effective refractive index plotted as a function of number layers in the NIM slab simulation. Also plotted is the corresponding transmission (red dashes) through the NIM slab. (d) Transmission through the NIM slab for two different pitch lengths as a function of the angle of incidence. Reprinted from Ref. [30].

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