PROOF COPY 108717APL Role of surface plasmon in second harmonic generation from gold nanorods

Received 17 January 2007; accepted 4 April 2007The role of surface plasmon in second harmonic generation from arrays of gold nanorod particlesexcited by femtosecond laser pulses is investigated as a function of incident light polarization andirradiation wavelength. In addition to photoluminescence, a peak of second harmonic is observedand is found to depend on the polarization and wavelength of the fundamental frequency laser beam.In particular, the authors found similarities between extinction spectra of the nanoparticles andspectra of emmitted second harmonic. This behavior can be explained by resonant excitation oflocalized surface plasmon resonances. ©