Molecular nanopolaritonics: Cross manipulation of near-field plasmons and molecules. I. Theory and application to junction control

A discrete interaction model/quantum mechanical method for simulating surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy in solution

Since surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is of considerable interest for sensing applications in aqueous solution, the role that solvent plays in the spectroscopy must be understood. However, these efforts are hindered due to a lack of simulation approaches for modeling solvent effects in SERS. In this work, we present an atomistic electrodynamics-quantum mechanical method to simulate SERS in aqueous solution based on the discrete interaction model/quantum mechanical method. This method combines an atomistic electrodynamics model of the nanoparticle with a time-dependent density functional theory description of the molecule and a polarizable embedding method for the solvent. The explicit treatment of solvent molecules and nanoparticles results in a large number of polarizable dipoles that need to be considered. To reduce the computational cost, a simple cut-off based approach has been implemented to limit the number of dipoles that need to be treated without sacrificing accuracy. As a test of this method, we have studied how solvent affects the SERS of pyridine in the junction between two nanoparticles in aqueous solution. We find that the solvent leads to an enhanced SERS due to an increased local field at the position of the pyridine. We further demonstrate the importance of both image field and local field effects in determining the enhancements and the spectral signatures. Our results show the importance of describing the local environment due to the solvent molecules when modeling SERS.

Ehrenfest+R dynamics. I. A mixed quantum-classical electrodynamics simulation of spontaneous emission

The dynamics of an electronic system interacting with an electromagnetic field is investigated within mixed quantum-classical theory. Beyond the classical path approximation (where we ignore all feedback from the electronic system on the photon field), we consider all electron-photon interactions explicitly according to Ehrenfest (i.e., mean-field) dynamics and a set of coupled Maxwell-Liouville equations. Because Ehrenfest dynamics cannot capture certain quantum features of the photon field correctly, we propose a new Ehrenfest+R method that can recover (by construction) spontaneous emission while also distinguishing between electromagnetic fluctuations and coherent emission.

Linear acene molecules in plasmonic cavities: mapping evolution of optical absorption spectra and electric field intensity enhancements

Understanding the plasmonic cavity induced electric field enhancement in a hybrid nanosystem is of paramount importance in the development of new optical devices.

Spectral dependence of plasmon-enhanced fluorescence in a hollow nanotriangle assembled by DNA origami: towards plasmon assisted energy transfer

The precise positioning of plasmonic nanoscale objects and organic molecules can significantly boost our ability to fabricate hybrid nanoarchitectures with specific target functionalities. In this work, we used a DNA origami structure to precisely localize three different fluorescent dyes close to the tips of hollow gold nanotriangles. A spectral dependence of plasmon-enhanced fluorescence is evidenced through co-localized AFM and fluorescence measurements. The experimental results match well with explanatory FDTD simulations. Our findings open the way to the bottom-up fabrication of plasmonic routers operating through plasmon energy transfer. They will allow one to actively control the direction of light propagation.

Optics of exciton-plasmon nanomaterials

This review provides a brief introduction to the physics of coupled exciton-plasmon systems, the theoretical description and experimental manifestation of such phenomena, followed by an account of the state-of-the-art methodology for the numerical simulations of such phenomena and supplemented by a number of FORTRAN codes, by which the interested reader can introduce himself/herself to the practice of such simulations. Applications to CW light scattering as well as transient response and relaxation are described. Particular attention is given to so-called strong coupling limit, where the hybrid exciton-plasmon nature of the system response is strongly expressed. While traditional descriptions of such phenomena usually rely on analysis of the electromagnetic response of inhomogeneous dielectric environments that individually support plasmon and exciton excitations, here we explore also the consequences of a more detailed description of the molecular environment in terms of its quantum density matrix (applied in a mean field approximation level). Such a description makes it possible to account for characteristics that cannot be described by the dielectric response model: the effects of dephasing on the molecular response on one hand, and nonlinear response on the other. It also highlights the still missing important ingredients in the numerical approach, in particular its limitation to a classical description of the radiation field and its reliance on a mean field description of the many-body molecular system. We end our review with an outlook to the near future, where these limitations will be addressed and new novel applications of the numerical approach will be pursued.

Theory of Linear and Nonlinear Surface-Enhanced Vibrational Spectroscopies

The vibrational spectroscopy of molecules adsorbed on metal nanoparticles can be enhanced by many orders of magnitude so that the detection and identification of single molecules are possible. The enhancement of most linear and nonlinear vibrational spectroscopies has been demonstrated. In this review, we discuss theoretical approaches to understanding linear and nonlinear surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopies. A unified description of enhancement mechanisms classified as either electromagnetic or chemical in nature is presented. Emphasis is placed on understanding the spectral changes necessary for interpretation of linear and nonlinear surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopies.

Modeling molecule-plasmon interactions using quantized radiation fields within time-dependent electronic structure theory

We present a combined cavity quantum electrodynamics/ab initio electronic structure approach for simulating plasmon-molecule interactions in the time domain. The simple Jaynes-Cummings-type model Hamiltonian typically utilized in such simulations is replaced with one in which the molecular component of the coupled system is treated in a fully ab initio way, resulting in a computationally efficient description of general plasmon-molecule interactions. Mutual polarization effects are easily incorporated within a standard ground-state Hartree-Fock computation, and time-dependent simulations carry the same formal computational scaling as real-time time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory. As a proof of principle, we apply this generalized method to the emergence of a Fano-like resonance in coupled molecule-plasmon systems; this feature is quite sensitive to the nanoparticle-molecule separation and the orientation of the molecule relative to the polarization of the external electric field.

How does the plasmonic enhancement of molecular absorption depend on the energy gap between molecular excitation and plasmon modes: a mixed TDDFT/FDTD investigation

A real-time time-dependent density functional theory method coupled with the classical electrodynamics finite difference time domain technique is employed to systematically investigate the optical properties of hybrid systems composed of silver nanoparticles (NPs) and organic adsorbates.

A hybrid atomistic electrodynamics-quantum mechanical approach for simulating surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a technique that has broad implications for biological and chemical sensing applications by providing the ability to simultaneously detect and identify a single molecule. The Raman scattering of molecules adsorbed on metal nanoparticles can be enhanced by many orders of magnitude. These enhancements stem from a twofold mechanism: an electromagnetic mechanism (EM), which is due to the enhanced local field near the metal surface, and a chemical mechanism (CM), which is due to the adsorbate specific interactions between the metal surface and the molecules. The local field near the metal surface can be significantly enhanced due to the plasmon excitation, and therefore chemists generally accept that the EM provides the majority of the enhancements. While classical electrodynamics simulations can accurately simulate the local electric field around metal nanoparticles, they offer few insights into the spectral changes that occur in SERS. First-principles simulations can directly predict the Raman spectrum but are limited to small metal clusters and therefore are often used for understanding the CM. Thus, there is a need for developing new methods that bridge the electrodynamics simulations of the metal nanoparticle and the first-principles simulations of the molecule to facilitate direct simulations of SERS spectra. In this Account, we discuss our recent work on developing a hybrid atomistic electrodynamics-quantum mechanical approach to simulate SERS. This hybrid method is called the discrete interaction model/quantum mechanics (DIM/QM) method and consists of an atomistic electrodynamics model of the metal nanoparticle and a time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) description of the molecule. In contrast to most previous work, the DIM/QM method enables us to retain a detailed atomistic structure of the nanoparticle and provides a natural bridge between the electronic structure methods and the macroscopic electrodynamics description. Using the DIM/QM method, we have examined in detail the importance of the local environment on molecular excitation energies, enhanced molecular absorption, and SERS. Our results show that the molecular properties are strongly dependent not only on the distance of the molecule from the metal nanoparticle but also on its orientation relative to the nanoparticle and the specific local environment. Using DIM/QM to simulate SERS, we show that there is a significant dependence on the adsorption site. Furthermore, we present a detailed comparison between enhancements obtained from DIM/QM simulations and those from classical electrodynamics simulations of the local field. While we find qualitative agreement, there are significant differences due to the neglect of specific molecule-metal interactions in the classical electrodynamics simulations. Our results highlight the importance of explicitly considering the specific local environment in simulations of molecule-plasmon coupling.

Gold nanoparticles on polarizable surfaces as Raman scattering antennas

Surface plasmons supported by metal nanoparticles are perturbed by coupling to a surface that is polarizable. Coupling results in enhancement of near fields and may increase the scattering efficiency of radiative modes. In this study, we investigate the Rayleigh and Raman scattering properties of gold nanoparticles functionalized with cyanine deposited on silicon and quartz wafers and on gold thin films. Dark-field scattering images display red shifting of the gold nanoparticle plasmon resonance and doughnut-shaped scattering patterns when particles are deposited on silicon or on a gold film. The imaged radiation patterns and individual particle spectra reveal that the polarizable substrates control both the orientation and brightness of the radiative modes. Comparison with simulation indicates that, in a particle-surface system with a fixed junction width, plasmon band shifts are controlled quantitatively by the permittivity of the wafer or the film. Surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) spectra and images are collected from cyanine on particles on gold films. SERRS images of the particles on gold films are doughnut-shaped as are their Rayleigh images, indicating that the SERRS is controlled by the polarization of plasmons in the antenna nanostructures. Near-field enhancement and radiative efficiency of the antenna are sufficient to enable Raman scattering cyanines to function as gap field probes. Through collective interpretation of individual particle Rayleigh spectra and spectral simulations, the geometric basis for small observed variations in the wavelength and intensity of plasmon resonant scattering from individual antenna on the three surfaces is explained.

Effects of dyes, gold nanocrystals, pH, and metal ions on plasmonic and molecular resonance coupling

The effects of various factors on the resonance coupling between elongated Au nanocrystals and organic dyes have been systematically investigated through the preparation of hybrid nanostructures between Au nanocrystals and the electrostatically adsorbed dye molecules. A nanocrystal sample is chosen for each dye to match the longitudinal plasmon resonance wavelength with the absorption peak wavelength of the dye as close as possible so that the resonance coupling strength can be maximized. The resonance coupling strength is found to approximately increase as the molecular volume-normalized absorptivity is increased. It is mainly determined by the plasmon resonance energy of the Au nanocrystals instead of their shapes and sizes. Moreover, the resonance coupling can be reversibly controlled if the dye in the hybrid nanostructures is pH-sensitive. The coupling can also be weakened in the presence of metal ions. These results will be highly useful for designing resonance coupling-based sensing devices and for plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy.

Intrinsic Fano interference of localized plasmons in Pd nanoparticles

Palladium (Pd) nanoparticles exhibit broad optical resonances that have been assigned to so-called localized surface plasmons (LSPs). The resonance's energy varies with particle shape in a similar fashion as is well known for LSPs in gold and silver nanoparticles, but the line-shape is always anomalously asymmetric. We here show that this effect is due to an intrinsic Fano interference caused by the coupling between the plasmon response and a structureless background originating from interband transitions. The conclusions are supported by experimental and numerical simulation data of Pd particles of different shape and phenomenologically analyzed in terms of the point dipole polarizability of spheroids. The latter analysis indicates that the degree of Fano asymmetry is simply linearly proportional to the imaginary part of the interband contribution to the metal dielectric function.