Nucleation of plasmonic resonance nanoparticles

TL;DR

This paper predicts how electromagnetic fields can induce the nucleation of plasmonic nanoparticles, deriving formulas for their shape and energy barriers, revealing new stable particle formations driven by plasmonic effects.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for electromagnetic field-driven nucleation of plasmonic nanoparticles, including explicit expressions for nucleation barriers and particle shapes.

Findings

Electromagnetic fields can induce stable plasmonic nanoparticles.

Derived closed-form expressions for nucleation barriers and shapes.

Plasmonic polarization enables nucleation of otherwise unstable particles.

Abstract

We predict the electromagnetic field driven nucleation of nanoparticles that provide plasmonic oscillations in resonance with the field frequency. The oscillations assume a phase that maximizes the particle polarization and energy gain due to nucleation. We derive closed form expressions for the corresponding nucleation barrier and particle shape vs. field frequency and strength, metal plasma frequency, conductivity, and the host dielectric permittivity. We show that the plasmonic polarization allows for nucleation of particles that would not be stable in zero field.