Optical properties of spiky nanostructure

Abstract

With the advancement in technology over the last few decades, the interest in nanostructures has grown significantly. Noble metal nanostructures, in particular, exhibit stable physical and chemical properties which allow the use of them in application such as optical and electronic fields. It has been found that the manipulation of the morphologies of noble metal nanostructures can result in optical property enhancements of said nanostructures. Multispiked nanostructures, or nanostars, have been found to provide strongly enhanced electric field enhancement based on the geometries of their spikes. In this study, the author aims to find out how the different spike structures, lengths and widths can affect the optical properties of a nanostar. Through computer simulations of gold nanostars with single spike, the changes in the extinction peak and electric field distribution with various spikes were examined. By understanding how the geometry changes can affect the optical properties of noble metal nanostructures, spiked nanostructures can be specifically engineered for future applications in areas such as the biomedical field.