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Journal of Physical Studies 19(3), Article 3701 [10 pages] (2015)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30970/jps.19.3701 NUCLEATION OF PLASMONIC RESONANCE NANOPARTICLES WITH A SPHEROIDAL SHAPEN. I. Grigorchuk{1}, V. G. Karpov{2}
{1}Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, NAS of Ukraine, |
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Accelerated nucleation in response to laser or dc electric fields has been observed in a number of systems. The phenomenon is typically attributed to the lowering of the nucleation barrier by the field-induced polarization of the new phase particle.
This paper introduces the concept of plasmonic mediated nucleation. The underlying idea is that the nucleated particle provides a narrow resonance and phase of plasmonic oscillations that maximize its polarizability in the external electromagnetic field; that makes such particles energetically more favorable and lowers their nucleation barriers. As a result, an ac field will favor the nucleation of a particular geometry, such that the plasmonic frequency of the particle is in resonance with the field frequency. The nucleation of both the pancake and needle shaped nuclei for both cases of linearly and circularly polarized light has been considered. We predict the electromagnetic field driven nucleation of nanoparticles that provide plasmonic oscillations in resonance with the field frequency. The oscillations assume a phase that maximizes the particle polarization and energy gain due to nucleation. We derive closed-form expressions for the corresponding nucleation barrier and particle shape vs field frequency and strength, electron plasma frequency in metal, and the host dielectric permittivity. We show that the plasmonic polarization allows for the nucleation of particles that would not be stable in zero field.
PACS number(s): 78.67.Bf, 42.50.Md, 32.80.Lg