Science Daily August 23, 2019 The nano corkscrews are highly sensitive to light: depending on frequency and polarisation, they can strongly enhance it. Usually, the interaction of such nano-antennas with an electromagnetic field is determined using numerical methods. Each helix geometry, however, requires a new numerically expensive calculation. Researchers in Germany have a formula that tells them how a nano-antenna with specific parameters responds to light. This analytical description can be used as a design tool, as it specifies the required geometrical parameters of a nano-helix to amplify electromagnetic fields of desired frequencies or polarisation. The research could have applications […]
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Better chemistry through tiny antennae
Phys.org August 29, 2019 Selective bond cleavage via vibrational excitation is the key to active control over molecular reactions. However, the practical implementation in condensed phases have been hampered to date by poor excitation efficiency due to fast vibrational relaxation. Researchers in Japan fabricated tiny gold antennae, each 300 nanometers wide, and illuminated them with infrared lasers. When infrared light of the right frequency was present, the electrons in the antennae oscillated back creating plasmonic resonance. The plasmonic resonance focused the laser’s energy on nearby molecules, which started vibrating. The vibration was further boosted by shaping the waveform of the […]