Latest news

Sample fabrication and in situ measurements. (a) Schematics for the manufacturing process of silver NPs in silica: a silica glass substrate is implanted with 150 keV Ag+ ions in a shallow layer (<100 nm) near the surface, and then subsequent thermal annealing process induces the nucleation of silver nanospheres. (b) Scheme of the experimental setup for the formation of cavities in silver NPs. The sample is irradiated by 400 nm laser pulses and the irradiation fluence is regulated by shifting the sample position with respect to the optical lens. The in situ optical absorption spectra are collected from the sample simultaneously to the irradiation process.

According to the predictions of the atomistic model, one can produce at will hollow silver nanoparticles with cavities of tailored dimensions, having an accurate control. Hence, laser irradiation can be used to control and design the optical response by tuning the localized surface plasmon resonances of the hollow nanoparticles.