A Library of Late Transition Metal Alloy Dielectric Functions for Nanophotonic Applications
Journal article, 2020

Accurate complex dielectric functions are critical to accelerate the development of rationally designed metal alloy systems for nanophotonic applications, and to thereby unlock the potential of alloying for tailoring nanostructure optical properties. To date, however, accurate alloy dielectric functions are widely lacking. Here, a time-dependent density-functional theory computational framework is employed to compute a comprehensive binary alloy dielectric function library for the late transition metals most commonly employed in plasmonics (Ag, Au, Cu, Pd, Pt). Excellent agreement is found between electrodynamic simulations based on these dielectric functions and selected alloy systems experimentally scrutinized in 10 at% composition intervals. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the dielectric functions can vary in very non-linear fashion with composition, which paves the way for non-trivial optical response optimization by tailoring material composition. The presented dielectric function library is thus a key resource for the development of alloy nanomaterials for applications in nanophotonics, optical sensors, and photocatalysis.

nanoalloys

nanofabrication

optical response

time-dependent density-functional theory

Author

Magnus Rahm

Chalmers, Physics, Condensed Matter and Materials Theory

Christopher Tiburski

Chalmers, Physics, Chemical Physics

Tuomas Rossi

Chalmers, Physics, Materials and Surface Theory

Ferry Nugroho

Chalmers, Physics, Chemical Physics

Sara Nilsson

Chalmers, Physics, Chemical Physics

Christoph Langhammer

Chalmers, Physics, Chemical Physics

Paul Erhart

Chalmers, Physics, Condensed Matter and Materials Theory

Advanced Functional Materials

1616-301X (ISSN) 16163028 (eISSN)

Vol. 30 35 2002122

Rambidrag inom utlysningen "Materials Science 2015"

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) (RMA15-0052), 2016-05-01 -- 2021-06-30.

Towards nanoscale reality in plasmonic hot-carrier generation (RealNanoPlasmon)

European Commission (EC) (EC/H2020/838996), 2019-04-01 -- 2021-03-31.

Areas of Advance

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Subject Categories

Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics

Condensed Matter Physics

Infrastructure

Chalmers Materials Analysis Laboratory

Nanofabrication Laboratory

DOI

10.1002/adfm.202002122

Related datasets

Data and code for "A Library of Late Transition Metal Alloy Dielectric Functions for Nanophotonic Applications" [dataset]

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3822037

More information

Latest update

9/22/2023