Tunable optical extinction of nano-antennas for solar energy conversion from near-infrared to visible

We present a systematic study of tunable, plasmon extinction characteristics of arrays of nanoscale antennas that have potential use as sensors, energy-harvesting devices, catalytic converters, in near-field optical microscopy, and in surfaced-enhanced spectroscopy. Each device is composed of a palladium triangular-prism antenna and a flat counterelectrode. Arrays of devices are fabricated on silica using electron-beam lithography, followed by atomic-layer deposition (ALD) of copper. Optical extinction is measured by employing a broadband light source in a confocal, transmission arrangement. We demonstrate that the plasmon resonance in the extinction may be tailored by varying lithography conditions and is modified significantly by ALD. Most important, is the ability to control the gap spacing between the two electrodes, which, along with overall size, morphology, and material properties, modifies the plasmon resonance. We employ Finite-Difference Time-Domain simulations to demonstrate good agreement between experimental data and theory and use scanning electron microscopy to correlate plasmonic extinction characteristics with changes in morphology.