Gold/vanadium dioxide nanoparticles (NPs) were produced with the intention of creating a hybrid NP retaining
the characteristic semiconductor-metal phase transition of VO2 and the plasmonic properties of gold. The fabrication
procedure for arrays of the hybrid structure is presented with optical characterization and analysis of
the plasmonic structure. The high-temperature anneal required to insure the stoichiometry of the VO2 leads to
dewetting of the Au from the underlying VO2 layer, and to dramatic reshaping of the gold NP. Surface enhanced
Raman spectroscopy verifies the retention of the VO2 crystalline structure and phase transition; white light
extinction measurements exhibit the polarization sensitive plasmonic resonance peaks that characterize the electronic
signature of the phase transition. Together these techniques show that the composite system experiences
no significant intermingling between the two materials during processing. Furthermore, the controllable nature
of the extent of dewetting, via aspect ratio of the pre-annealed particle, suggests that the hybrid system will give
insight into interface interactions between the optical and structural properties of the constituents. A second
method is suggested to circumvent the annealing effect. The conclusions of our investigation suggest applications
as both a thermally or optically tunable plasmonic structure.
Previous observations on arrays of single nanoparticles (NPs) have shown that particle separation and grating
constant determine the peak extinction wavelength of the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). Recently, it
has been predicted that the LSPR peak extinction wavelength in arrays of nanodimers (NDs) exhibit enhanced
sensitivity to changes in the local dielectric function compared to single NPs. In order to test this prediction,
arrays of NPs, NDs and heterodimers comprising three different NP sizes were fabricated by electron-beam
lithography with various grating constants, particle diameters, and interparticle separations. Another set of
arrays were also fabricated and coated with approximately 60-nm of vanadium dioxide, which undergoes an
insulator to metal phase transition at a critical temperature near 68.C. By tuning the temperature of the
samples through the strong-correlation region around the critical temperature, we varied the effective dielectric
constant surrounding the NP arrays over a significant range. Linear extinction measurements on the arrays were
made at temperatures above and below the critical temperature, with linear polarizers placed in the incident
beam in order to distinguish between LSPR modes. Measurements show a clear dependence of LSPR sensitivity
to interparticle separation as well as the dielectric function of the surrounding medium. Finally, finite-difference
time-domain (FDTD) simulations were carried out for comparison with the experimental results.
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