Controlling electrical conduction through noble metal thin films by surface plasmon resonance

TL;DR

This study investigates how surface plasmon resonance affects electrical conduction in noble metal thin films, providing experimental evidence of their influence on electrical resistivity.

Contribution

The paper presents the first experimental correlation between surface plasmon resonance and electrical resistivity in 2D noble metal thin films.

Findings

Surface plasmon resonance correlates with changes in electrical resistivity.

In-situ measurements reveal plasmon-electron interaction effects.

Gold thin films show significant resistivity variation linked to plasmon activity.

Abstract

The collective oscillations of surface charges (surface plasmons) induced by light-matter interactions were predicted in the 1950s to influence electrical conduction in 2D noble metals. Primarily two mechanisms were predicted and later by Frohlich which could affect the electron transport in metals; (1) Umklapp electron-electron scattering and (2) attractive interaction between free electrons in transition metals because of screening of the d-band electrons by the s-band electrons. [1] However, there is no experimental evidence to date on how such oscillations might influence the electrical conductivity of 2D metals. We have conducted in-situ measurements of the surface plasmons and electrical resistivity of thin film gold. We observe striking correlations between the electrical resistivity of noble metal thin films and surface plasmon resonance