Light, Metal and Molecules

Materials structured on the nanometer scale can lead to improved and sometimes surprising properties. Metals are no exception to this rule. Metal particles for instance display colours which vary with their size. The colour results from the coupling of light with the free electrons of the metal particle to form surface plasmons. With modern nanofabrication techniques it is possible to tailor the structure of metals and thereby to control the properties of surface plasmons opening many new possibilities for photonic devices, molecular sensors and miniature optical circuits. This potential of nanostructured metals together with their interaction with molecules will be illustrated by recent progress in the field [1-3].

1. Genet and Ebbesen, Nature 445, 39 (2007)
2. Ebbesen, Genet et Bozhevolnyi, Physics Today (mai 2008)
3. Salomon et al, Ang. Chemie Int. Ed. 48, 8748 (2009)