Optical near-fields & nearfield optics

• Alfred J. Meixner and
• Paul Leiderer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 186–187, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.19

• -field in the vicinity of nanostructures. In this Thematic Series, various examples for the use of optical near-fields and near-field optics are presented. Metallic nanostructures, especially noble metals such as gold and silver, are efficient for nano-focusing and controlling light on the nanoscale

• ” with a length of a few nanometers. This effect of strong near-field enhancement around sharp structures of noble metals has been known from Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) for a long time [1]. Yet, the well-controlled tailoring of nanostructures necessary to quantitatively control the optical

Dye-doped spheres with plasmonic semi-shells: Lasing modes and scattering at realistic gain levels

• Nikita Arnold,
• Boyang Ding,
• Calin Hrelescu and
• Thomas A. Klar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 974–987, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.110

• symmetry and turn from nanoshells with spherical symmetry to semi-shells, sometimes also called nano-caps or nano-cups. Such semi-shells can be produced either via the evaporation of noble metals on top of dielectric spheres [4][5][6], via the electrochemical deposition through a self-assembled template of

• which a dye-doped dielectric sphere was covered by a semi-shell of noble metals. The authors of [50][51] assumed metal-capped and dye-doped spheres comprising a spectrally flat, dispersion-less gain. This does not reflect realistic dye molecules, which provide gain only within a limited spectral range

Preparation of NiS/ZnIn₂S₄ as a superior photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation

• Liang Wei,
• Yongjuan Chen,
• Jialin Zhao and
• Zhaohui Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 949–955, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.107

• reactions. Due to their negligible overpotential for hydrogen evolution and excellent kenetics for driving the hydrogen evolution reaction, noble metals like Pt [24][25][26], Rh [27], Au [28][29] and their oxides like RuO2 [30], RhxCr2−xO3 [31][32][33] are generally used as the co-catalysts for

Probing the plasmonic near-field by one- and two-photon excited surface enhanced Raman scattering

• Katrin Kneipp and
• Harald Kneipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 834–842, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.94

• aggregates of nanoparticle of various sizes and shapes reaching from dimers [4][5][6][7], and trimers [8] to selfsimilar structures formed by silver- or gold nanospheres [9]. High local fields can also exist in fractal films or cavities of these noble metals [10]. The recently reported super-resolution

Near-field effects and energy transfer in hybrid metal-oxide nanostructures

• Ulrich Herr,
• Barat Achinuq,
• Cahit Benel,
• Giorgos Papageorgiou,
• Manuel Goncalves,
• Johannes Boneberg,
• Paul Leiderer,
• Paul Ziemann,
• Peter Marek and
• Horst Hahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 306–317, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.34

• . Typically, noble metals are used for the metal nanostructures, since they offer both long term stability and strong resonant enhancements in the range of visible light. A general review of materials aspects in nanotechnology-based approaches in energy technology can be found in [8]. From the examples given

Surface functionalization of aluminosilicate nanotubes with organic molecules

• Wei Ma,
• Weng On Yah,
• Hideyuki Otsuka and
• Atsushi Takahara

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 82–100, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.10

• with alkyl silanes adsorbed on silicon oxide or with thiols adsorbed on noble metals [1][12][13]. A different class of self-assembling agents, namely phosphonic and phosphoric acids, has gained more and more attention due to their ability to bind to a wide range of metal-oxide surfaces [14

Self-assembled monolayers and titanium dioxide: From surface patterning to potential applications

• Yaron Paz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 845–861, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.94

• extended exposure to O2 plasma in the presence of water vapor is performed. The formation of OTS monolayers on titanium dioxide was studied in structures consisting of well-defined microdomains of TiO2 and noble metals such as gold and platinum. It was found that monolayers chemisorbed in the presence of

Lifetime analysis of individual-atom contacts and crossover to geometric-shell structures in unstrained silver nanowires

• Christian Obermair,
• Holger Kuhn and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 740–745, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.81

• effect were intensely discussed for alkali metals [17][22] and later for noble metals [23] in mechanically fabricated atomic-scale contacts. However, it remained unclear how the results obtained with mechanically fabricated metallic point contacts are influenced by defects and distortions within the

Nanophotonics, nano-optics and nanospectroscopy

• Alfred J. Meixner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 499–500, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.53

• resonances of silver and gold nanoparticles. The concept of plasmon resonance has led to broad applications, such as optical antennas made from noble metals, which have been used to locally focus light into volumes with dimensions far below the diffraction limit and to enhance the emission of locally excited