Spectroscopy, Interactions and Level Splittings in Au Nanoparticles

TL;DR

This study measures the electronic spectra of gold nanoparticles, revealing discrete energy levels, resonance broadening, Zeeman splitting, and unexpectedly small g-factors compared to bulk gold, advancing understanding of nanoscale electronic properties.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new tunneling spectroscopy method to analyze energy spectra and magnetic effects in gold nanoparticles, highlighting novel spectral behaviors and g-factor variations.

Findings

Discrete energy spectra observed in 5-9 nm Au particles

Resonance density increases and overlaps at higher energies

G-factors (~0.3) are much smaller than bulk gold (2.1)

Abstract

We have measured the electronic energy spectra of nm-scale Au particles using a new tunneling spectroscopy configuration. The particle diameters ranged from 5nm to 9nm, and at low energies the spectrum is discrete, as expected by the electron-in-a-box model. The density of tunneling resonances increases rapidly with energy, and at higher energies the resonances overlap forming broad resonances. Near the Thouless energy, the broad resonances merge into a continuum. The tunneling resonances display Zeeman splitting in a magnetic field. Surprisingly, the g-factors (~0.3) of energy levels in Au nano-particles are much smaller than the g-factor (2.1) in bulk gold.