Noble metal nanostructures possess unique properties including large near-field enhancement and strong light scattering and absorption due to their plasmon resonance - the collective coherent oscillation of the metal free electrons in resonance with the electromagnetic field of light. The effect of nanostructure size, shape, composition, and environment on the plasmon resonance frequency and plasmonic enhancement is well known. In this thesis, we describe the effect of inter-particle coupling in assembled plasmonic nanostructures on their radiative and non-radiative properties. When metal nanoparticles assemble, plasmon oscillations of neighboring particles couple, resulting in a shift in the plasmon resonance frequency. Our investigation of plasmon coupling in gold nanorods shows that the coupling between the plasmons is "bonding" in nature when the plasmon oscillations are polarized along the inter-particle axis, whereas an "anti-bonding" interaction results when the polarization is perpendicular. We studied the distance-dependence of plasmon coupling using electrodynamic simulations and experimental plasmon resonances of lithographically fabricated gold nanoparticle pairs with systematically varying inter-particle separations. The strength of plasmon bonding, reflected by the fractional plasmon shift, decays near-exponentially with the inter-particle separation (in units of particle size) according to a universal trend independent of the nanoparticle size, shape, metal type, or medium. From the universal scaling model, we obtain a "plasmon ruler equation" which calculates (in good agreement with the experiments of Alivisatos and Liphardt) the inter-particle separation in a gold nanosphere pair from its plasmon resonance shift, making it applicable to the determination of inter-site distances in biological systems. Universal size-scaling is valid also in the metal nanoshell structure, a nanosphere trimer, and pairs of elongated nanoparticles, thus making it a generalized fundamental model, which is useful in optimizing plasmon coupling for achieving tunable plasmon resonances, enhanced plasmonic sensitivities, and large SERS cross-sections. Ultrafast laser pump-probe studies of non-radiative electronic relaxation in coupled metal nanospheres in aggregates and in gold nanospheres conjugated to thiol SAMs are also reported. We also show that the relative contribution of scattering (radiative) to absorption (non-radiative) part of the plasmon relaxation, respectively useful in optical and photothermal applications, can be increased by increasing the nanostructure size.

abstract: This dissertation presents research findings regarding the exploitation of localized surface plasmon (LSP) of epitaxial Ag islands as a means to enhance the photoluminescence (PL) of Germanium (Ge) quantum dots (QDs). The first step of this project was to investigate the growth of Ag islands on Si(100). Two distinct families of Ag islands have been observed. “Big islands” are clearly faceted and have basal dimensions in the few hundred nm to μm range with a variety of basal shapes. “Small islands” are not clearly faceted and have basal diameters in the 10s of nm range. Big islands form via a nucleation and growth mechanism, and small islands form via precipitation of Ag contained in a planar layer between the big islands that is thicker than the Stranski-Krastanov layer existing at room-temperature. The pseudodielectric functions of epitaxial Ag islands on Si(100) substrates were investigated with spectroscopic ellipsometry. Comparing the experimental pseudodielectric functions obtained for Si with and without Ag islands clearly identifies a plasmon mode with its dipole moment perpendicular to the surface. This observation is confirmed using a simulation based on the thin island film (TIF) theory. Another mode parallel to the surface may be identified by comparing the experimental pseudodielectric functions with the simulated ones from TIF theory. Additional results suggest that the LSP energy of Ag islands can be tuned from the ultra-violet to the infrared range by an amorphous Si (α-Si) cap layer. Heterostructures were grown that incorporated Ge QDs, an epitaxial Si cap layer and Ag islands grown atop the Si cap layer. Optimum growth conditions for distinct Ge dot ensembles and Si cap layers were obtained. The density of Ag islands grown on the Si cap layer depends on its thickness. Factors contributing to this effect may include the average strain and Ge concentration on the surface of the Si cap layer. The effects of the Ag LSP on the PL of Ge coherent domes were investigated for both α-Si capped and bare Ag islands. For samples with low-doped substrates, the LSPs reduce the Ge dot-related PL when the Si cap layer is below some critical thickness and have no effect on the PL when the Si cap layer is above the critical thickness. For samples grown on highly-doped wafers, the LSP of bare Ag islands enhanced the PL of Ge QDs by ~ 40%. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Physics 2015

Les récepteurs de chimiokines sont des régulateurs essentiels de la migration cellulaire dans le cadre de la surveillance immunitaire, et le développement. Les récepteurs CCR5 et CXCR4 sont de plus spécifiquement impliqués dans les métastases cancéreuses et l'infection par le VIH. Nous avons développé un système permettant de sur-exprimer ces deux RCPGs. Afin de s'affranchir des problèmes de toxicité inhérents à l'expression des protéines membranaires en bactérie notre approche de production consiste à adresser les protéines vers les corps d'inclusion d'E. coli grâce à une fusion protéique N-terminale permettant de hauts niveaux d'expression. Après purification en conditions dénaturantes, les protéines sont alors repliées en présence de surfactants originaux, les amphipoles. La validation de cette nouvelle approche pour les récepteurs des chimiokines représente un des objectifs principaux de ce travail. Afin de tester la fonctionnalité des protéines repliées, une série d'outils a été développée : des versions modifiées des chimiokines ont été produites (RANTES pour CCR5 et SDF 1a pour CXCR4). La fonctionnalité des chimiokines a été évaluée au niveau moléculaire et cellulaire. L'interaction entre le récepteur replié en amphipole et son ligand a été testé par résonance de plasmons de surface (SPR). Différents types de surfaces fonctionalisées avec le récepteur de chimiokine replié en amphipole ont été explorés au cours de ce travail. A la fin de ce projet, la production des chimiokines et de leur récepteur a été mise au point. L'accès à ces outils ouvre la voie à de futures études moléculaires telles que la compréhension de la dimérisation du récepteur ou la détermination de la stoechiométrie du complexe. / Chemokine receptors are critical regulators of cell migration in the context of immune surveillance, inflammation and development. The GPCRs (G protein-coupled receptors) CCR5 and CXCR4 are specifically implicated in cancer metastasis and HIV-1 infection. An expression system to over-express these two GPCRs was developed. To overcome the toxicity problem of membrane protein expression in bacterial system, the production approach consists in targeting the proteins towards E. coli inclusion bodies thanks to a N-terminal fusion allowing a high yield expression. After purification under denaturing conditions, these GPCRs were then folded using original polymeric surfactants: the amphipols. The validation of this new approach for the chemokine receptor production is one of the goals of this work. In order to assess the functionality of the folded proteins, series of tools have been developed: engineered chemokine ligands (RANTES for CCR5 and SDF1a for CXCR4) were produced. The functionality of chemokines was evaluated at cellular and molecular levels. Interaction between the receptor folded in amphipols and its ligand was evaluated using Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) technique. Several types of surfaces, functionalized with the chemokine receptor/amphipol complex have been explored in this work. At the end of this project the productions of chemokines and their receptors has been set up. These established tools open the way to future studies, at the molecular level, in order to, for instance, investigate receptor dimerization and complex stoichiometry.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:14:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ManoelSV_DISSERT.pdf: 1448096 bytes, checksum: 866dbf446f607cd2166e9d64dab483ef (MD5) Previous issue date: 1995-07-14 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / Neste trabalho investigamos o espectro de polariton de plasmons (modos de volume e superf?cie) assim como o espectro ?ptico (reflect?ncia e transmit?ncia) em uma estrutura quasi-peri?dica, que obedece uma sequ?ncia de Cantor. O sistema quasi-peri?dico de multi-camadas de Cantor ? criado quando duas camadas diferentes, de materiais distintos A e B, s?o dispostos de acordo com a seguinte rela??o de recorr?ncia: C1 = ABA;C2= C1B2C1;...;Cn= Cn-1BnCn-1 Onde Bn ? o mesmo meio da camada B mas com diferente espessura. O aparatus experimental mais simples para medir estes espectros, consiste em posicionar a super-rede tipo Cantor na forma de um filme embebido no v?cuo. Usando o m?todo da matriz-transfer?ncia, para simplificar a ?lgebra, ? poss?vel determinar-se a rela??o de dispers?o dos polaritons (modos de superf?cie e volume), assim como as express?es te?ricas de reflect?ncia e transmit?ncia. H? uma s?rie de resultados interessantes nestes espectros, os quais discutiremos em detalhes neste trabalho

Neste trabalho estão apresentadas novas estratégias para funcionalizar superfícies de ouro baseadas na sustentação de bicamadas lipídicas em superfícies de sensores de imagem por Ressonância de Plasmons de Superfície (SPRi) e a construção de um biosensor para detecção de citocromo c. SPRi é uma técnica ótica de gravimetria em tempo real. Por meio de medidas de variações de índice de refração (n) próximas a uma interface, a adsorção e desorção de moléculas podem ser mensuradas. Inicialmente testamos várias estratégias para encontrar um suporte adequado que se ligasse na superfície de ouro e que oferecesse sustentação e estabilidade para a bicamada de fosfolipídeo biotinilado. Estudos de FT-IR e MEV mostraram que a quitosana facilita a formação de uma bicamada íntegra de fosfolipídeos, de tal modo, que a mesma alcança valores de espessura próximos àqueles previstos, ~ 34,5 Å. Além disso, mostramos que esse sistema apresenta vantagens perante outros modelos, tais como, (poli-lisina/fosfolipídeos) e (tiol hidrofóbico/fosfolipídeo). Utilizando-se o complexo químico biotina/estreptoavidina conseguimos imobilizar o anticorpo anti cit c na bicamada, mantendo-o afastado da superfície de ouro. A construção do biosensor foi acompanhada com experimentos de SPRi. O limite de detecção de citocromo c atingido foi de 10-11mol/L. Um sensor construído somente com BSA e anticorpo anti cit c apresentou sensibilidade semelhante. Esta sensibilidade é em torno de três ordens de grandeza superior aos experimentos de imunoblotting usualmente utilizados para detecção de cit c. A principal limitação deste biosensor, tal como de outros imunoensaios, está intimamente ligada às vantagens e desvantagens dos anticorpos como ferramentas analíticas. / In this work we developed new strategies to functionalize gold surfaces based on the support of lipid bilayers on the surfaces of surface plasmon resonance imaging sensors (SPRi) and the construction of a biosensor for detection of cytochrome c. SPRi is an optical gravimetric real time technique. Through measurements of changes in refractive index (n) in close proximity to an interface, the adsorption and desorption of molecules can be measured. Initially we tested several strategies for finding a suitable medium that would adsorb on the gold surface and also support and stabilize a biotinylated phospholipid bilayer. Studies of FT-IR and SEM showed that chitosan induces the formation of an intact phospholipid bilayer, so that it reaches thickness values close to those expected, ~ 34.5 Å. Furthermore, we showed that this system has advantages in relation to other models, such as (poli-lisine/phospholipids) and (thiol hydrophobic / phospholipid). Using the chemical complex biotin/streptavidin anti cyt c antibody could be immobilized in the bilayer, keeping it away from the gold surface. The construction of the biosensor was accompanied with SPRi experiments. The limit of detection of cytochrome c was achieved from 10-11mol / L. A sensor built only with BSA and anti cyt c showed similar sensitivity. This sensitivity is about three orders of magnitude higher than the immunoblotting experiments commonly used for detection of cyt c. The main limitation of this biosensor, like in other immunoassays, is linked to the advantages and disadvantages of antibodies as analytical tools.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The fascinating optical properties of metallic nanostructures, dominated by collective oscillations of free electrons known as plasmons, open new opportunities for the development of devices fabrication based on noble metal nanoparticle composite materials. This thesis demonstrates a low-cost and versatile technique to produce stimuli-responsive ultrafast plasmonic nanostructures with reversible tunable optical properties. Albeit challenging, further control using thermal external stimuli to tune the local environment of gold nanoparticles embedded in VO2 host matrix would be ideal for the design of responsive functional nanocomposites. We prepared Au-VO2 nanocomposite thin films by the inverted cylindrical reactive magnetron sputtering (ICMS) known as hollow cathode magnetron sputtering for the first time and report the reversible tuning of surface plasmon resonance of Au nanoparticles by only adjusting the external temperature stimuli. The structural, morphological, interfacial analysis and optical properties of the optimized nanostructures have been studied. ICMS has been attracting much attention for its enclosed geometry and its ability to deposit on large area, uniform coating of smart nanocomposites at high deposition rate. Before achieving the aforementioned goals, a systematic study and optimization process of VO2 host matrix has been done by studying the influence of deposition parameters on the structural, morphological and optical switching properties of VO2 thin films. A reversible thermal tunability of the optical/dielectric constants of VO2 thin films by spectroscopic ellipsometry has been intensively also studied in order to bring more insights about the shift of the plasmon of gold nanoparticles imbedded in VO2 host matrix. / South Africa

Orientadores: Hugo Enrique Hernández Figueroa, Gustavo Silva Wiederhecker / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T11:40:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MalheirosSilveira_GilliardNardel_D.pdf: 5160562 bytes, checksum: 33058c0e1fc01da7e9a2ea1ab88b0ad4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Esta tese aborda o emprego de nano-antenas e antenas ópticas com configurações e materiais diversos, envolvendo atividades de modelagem e simulação. Tais propostas visam viabilizar novas soluções para problemas desafiadores de acoplamento, e também, de comunicação, no sentido da tecnologia de comunicações sem-fio entre dispositivos ópticos integrados, incluindo os do tipo plasmônico. Neste sentido, foram avaliadas novas propostas de nano-antenas; com particular ênfase em estruturas baseadas nas chamadas antenas dielétricas ressonantes / Abstract: This thesis addresses the use of nano-antennas and optical antennas with various configurations and materials, involving modeling and simulation activities. Such proposals are intended to enable new solutions to challenging problems of coupling, and also, communication, in the sense of wireless communications between integrated optical devices, including the plasmonic ones. Accordingly, proposals for new nano-antennas were evaluated; with particular emphasis on structures based on the dielectric resonator antennas / Doutorado / Telecomunicações e Telemática / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

The diploma thesis deals with the optical response of resonant infrared antennas on silicon dioxide thin film. At first, theory of electromagnetism at metal/dielectric interfaces is described. In the next part, experimental and numerical methods used in the thesis are described and strong coupling between two systems is explained. In the final part of the thesis, the optical response of resonant infrared antennas on a silicon dioxide thin film is studied by Fourier transform Infrared Spectroscopy and FDTD simulations which both show the strong coupling between localized plasmons and phonons in silicon dioxide.

The presented diploma thesis is focused on the Localized Surface Plasmons (LSP). The far-field optical response of the colloidal solutions of gold nanoparticles caused by LSP was investigated and compared with the numerical calculations. For the simulations, the Discrete Dipole Approximation (DDA) and Finite-Difference Time Domain (FDTD) techniques were employed. In particular, the shape and size effects of spherical particles and nanorods were studied. The simulations performed by both methods are in a good agreement for the spheres. For the nanorods, the resonance was found to be affected markedly by their geometry. Also, broader resonance peaks were found. This effect was assigned to the sample size distribution and its influence is discussed by comparing the simulations with experiments. In addition, synthesis of nanorods was carried out as well. Finally, the results on the study of optical properties of silver clusters formed under equilibrium conditions are presented.

Les Plasmons de surface à l’interface d’un métal et d’un diélectrique sont des oscillations collectives des électrons libres. Pour une interface plane, les plasmons se manifestent comme des champs électromagnétiques évanescents, confinée à quelques centaines de nanomètres de la surface métallique et se propagent le long de l'interface. Ce mode plasmonique, appelé plasmon propagatif de surface (PSP), est un mode fondamental. D’autres modes fondamentaux, non-propagatifs, sont appelé plasmons localisés (LSP) et apparaissent dans les nano-particules métalliques. Dans ce travail, nous avons calculé analytiquement la polarisabilité de géométries métalliques complexes et les résultats obtenus permettent d’expliquer les conditions de résonance des différents modes plasmoniques.Parmi les divers modes plasmoniques, plusieurs modes fondamentaux ont été étudiés en détail et décrits par une formulation analytique. Tout d’abord, dans un réseau binaire de lignes métalliques, des plasmons propagatifs confinés par la dimension finie des lignes sont générés. Ce mode plasmonique est appelé plasmons propagatifs confinée (CPP). D’autre part, dans des réseaux périodiques de nano-particules métalliques, déposées sur un film métallique, des modes de Bragg (BM) sont excités par la diffraction des PSP. De plus, dans de telles structures, un couplage harmonique entre les LSP des nano-particules et le PSP du film métallique sous-jacent se traduit par l’apparition d’un mode hybride (HLP). Les caractéristiques de ce mode hybride pour un réseau de nano-cylindres métalliques sur un film métallique sont présentées en détails, en particulier son intérêt en bio-détection.L'effet du milieu diélectrique environnant sur les modes plasmoniques est utilisé dans les détecteurs basés sur la résonance des plasmons de surface (SPR). Ces systèmes mesurent le décalage de la résonance d’un mode plasmonique, qui est fonction de l’indice de réfraction du milieu diélectrique. L’un des buts de ce travail est d'optimiser les détecteurs SPR pour des expériences typiques sondes – cibles où les molécules sonde sont greffées à la surface du capteur. Nous avons montré que par une fonctionnalisation sélective de la surface métallique, une amélioration de la performance de détection peut être obtenue en terme de quantité de molécules cibles détectable. L'amélioration de champ proche joue aussi un rôle majeur dans les techniques de diffusion Raman exaltée de surface (SERS). La présence de certains des modes plasmoniques étudiés dans les substrats nano-structurés permet d’augmenter significativement l'intensité du signal SERS.Pour réaliser ce travail, des méthodes numériques adaptées à la géométrie particulière des structures étudiées ont été développés pour calculer les distributions des champs proches et lointains dans ces structures. Les caractéristiques de ces modes plasmoniques ont été mesurés expérimentalement et leurs performances en détection SPR ont été démontrées en utilisant une configuration basée sur une interrogation angulo-spectrale en configuration de Kretschmann. Des expériences de SERS ont également été réalisées en collaboration avec le CSPBAT à Paris 13. Les différentes structures ont été fabriquées par lithographie électronique à l’IEF à Paris 11. Les résultats expérimentaux concordent avec les résultats numériques et analytiques.Cette description détaillée des modes plasmoniques offre une compréhension plus complète du phénomène de résonance des plasmons de surface dans les nanostructures métalliques et permet d’optimiser les structures selon l’application souhaitée. Le modèle présenté dans ce travail est relativement général et peut être utilisé pour décrire les propriétés électromagnétiques de différentes géométries et configurations expérimentales. De la représentation complète des modes plasmoniques, différents aspects des interactions photons-plasmons peuvent ainsi être étudiés. / The surface plasmons on metallic surfaces are excited by the collective oscillations of free electrons. They satisfy certain resonance conditions and their dispersion can be considered as modes of the system. The plasmons at uniform metal-dielectric interfaces manifest as evanescent electromagnetic (EM) fields confined to a few hundreds of nanometers from the metallic surface and propagate along the interface. This mode is called the Propagating surface plasmon (PSP) and is a fundamental plasmonic mode. The other fundamental modes, which are non-propagative, results from collective oscillations of free electrons on curved surfaces of metallic nano-particles. They are called localized surface plasmon (LSP) modes. We have shown that the polarizability of complex geometries with an underlying substrate can be calculated analytically and the results obtained closely approximate the resonance conditions for such geometries.In this work, various other plasmonic modes originating from the two fundamental modes were studied in details and described by their corresponding analytical formulation. In a binary metallic arrays on glass substrate, plasmonic modes are excited by diffraction orders, called the Wood-Rayleigh modes (WRM). In metallic strips the PSP is confined by the finite edges of the strips and propagate along the length of the strips, called the confined propagating plasmons (CPP).For arrays of metallic nano-particles on a metallic film, the Bragg modes (BM) are excited by diffraction of the PSP. In such structures the LSP of the nano-particles and the PSP of the film can undergo a harmonic coupling to give rise to the hybrid lattice plasmon (HLP). The characteristics of the HLP mode for an array of metallic nano-cylinders on a metallic film is presented in details.The effect of the surrounding medium on the plasmonic modes is used in surface plasmon resonance (SPR) detectors which probe the shift in resonance condition of the modes. Such shift is dependent on the intrinsic dispersion of the modes. The aim of this work is to optimize the SPR detectors for affinity biosensing where probe and analyte molecules are bound to the metallic surface. We have shown that by selective functionalization of the metallic biochip surface, an enhancement of the performance of such detection can be achieved in terms of the amount of analyte used. Also the near field enhancement plays a major role in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). We have shown that the presence of certain modes in the system can enhance the recorded SERS intensity.Rigorous numerical methods, adapted to the particular geometry under study, were developed to compute the near and far field characteristics of different structures. The experimental excitation of the modes and their application in SPR detection was demonstrated using a setup based on a spectral scanning modality operating in the Kretschmann configuration. The various structures were fabricated on a biochip using e-beam lithography at IEF, University Paris Sud and the reflectivity dispersion from the biochip was recorded. Such experimental results were shown to be in close agreement with the theoretical results. SERS experiments were carried out in collaboration with CSPBAT at University Paris 13 and the results were seen to fit closely the theoretically predicted trends.Such detailed description of plasmonic modes can offer a complete understanding of the surface plasmon resonance phenomenon in metallic structures and be optimized as per required for various applications. The theories presented in this work can be used to effectively describe the EM properties of different geometries and experimental configurations. From a comprehensive representation of plasmonic modes, different aspects of the photon-plasmon interactions can thus be elucidated.