Formation of normal surface plasmon modes in small sodium nanoparticles

TL;DR

This study investigates the formation and evolution of surface plasmon modes in small sodium nanoparticles using the GW method, revealing size-dependent transitions from localized surface plasmon resonance to surface plasmon polariton and volume plasmon excitations.

Contribution

It provides detailed insights into the size-dependent formation of plasmon modes in sodium nanoclusters and demonstrates selective suppression of LSPR in core-shell nanostructures.

Findings

Single peak in loss function for particles up to 2 nm indicating LSPR

Emergence of SPP and VP resonances in particles larger than 2 nm

Lower size limit of 0.7 nm for SPP-based nanodevices

Abstract

Formation of surface plasmon modes in sodium nanoclusters containing 20-300 atoms was studied using the GW method. It is shown that in the small Na nanoparticles up to 2 nm in size, the loss function $Im[\epsilon^{-1}]$ is dominated by a single peak corresponding to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). For particles of 2 nm and more, a resonance corresponding to surface plasmon polariton (SPP) oscillations begins to form, as well as a resonance corresponding to volume plasmon (VP) excitations. Considering the above, the linear size of a particle in the range of 0.7-3.7 nm can be estimated as the lower limit for metal nanodevices operating with SPP. On the example of spherical nanoparticles consisting of a silicon core coated with sodium atoms, it is shown that the LSPR mode is selectively suppressed while the SPP mode is not. Such composite structures can be considered as an example of nanoplasmonic devices with selectively tuned characteristics.