Plasmonic Nanostructures:  Artificial Molecules

Hui Wang was born in Nanjing, China. He received his B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from Nanjing University in 2001 and 2003, respectively. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in physical chemistry working with Naomi J. Halas at Rice University. His research focuses on plasmonic nanostructures and surface-enhanced spectroscopies.

Daniel Brandl was born in Houston, TX. He received his B.S. in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2002 and M.S. in physics from Rice University in 2005. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in physics and astronomy working with Peter Nordlander at Rice University. His research focuses on the theory of plasmon hybridization applied to nanoparticle systems.

Peter Nordlander was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. He has held research positions at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Vanderbilt University, Rutgers University, and the University of Paris. He is currently Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University, where he is a member of the Laboratory for Nanophotonics.

Naomi J. Halas was born in New Eagle, Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. in chemistry from La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in physics from Bryn Mawr College. She was a research fellow at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center throughout her graduate career and a postdoctoral research fellow at AT&T Bell Laboratories. She is currently the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Professor of Chemistry at Rice University, where she is also the Director of the Laboratory for Nanophotonics.

This Account describes a new paradigm for the relationship between the geometry of metallic nanostructures and their optical properties. While the interaction of light with metallic nanoparticles is determined by their collective electronic or plasmon response, a compelling analogy exists between plasmon resonances of metallic nanoparticles and wave functions of simple atoms and molecules. Based on this insight, an entire family of plasmonic nanostructures, artificial molecules, has been developed whose optical properties can be understood within this picture:  nanoparticles (nanoshells, nanoeggs, nanomatryushkas, nanorice), multi-nanoparticle assemblies (dimers, trimers, quadrumers), and a nanoparticle-over-metallic film, an electromagnetic analog of the spinless Anderson model.