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Plasmonic Coupling Effect in Ag Nanocap–Nanohole Pairs for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

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Abstract

A plasmonic coupling structure composed of Ag nanocap–nanohole pairs was fabricated through a novel and facile method. Both surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) measurements and numerical simulations show that the cap-hole system produces much larger electric field enhancement and SERS signal than the isolated structures, which is due to the plasmonic coupling effect between the gap of the cap and the hole. Additionally, the plasmonic enhancement is sensitive to the gap size, which can be controlled by the Ag layer thickness during the evaporation process. A maximum enhancement factor of 1.1×108 can be obtained with optimized gap size.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Basic Research Program (973 Program) of China under grant no. 2012CB921900, the Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China, no. 61036005, and National Natural Science Foundation of China, nos. 11074241, 11004182. Xiaojin Jiao and Steve Blair acknowledge support from the University of Utah MRSEC, NSF grant no. DMR 1121252.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Optics and Optical Engineering, Anhui Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaolei Wen, Zheng Xi, Wenhai Yu, Douguo Zhang, Yonghua Lu, Pei Wang & Hai Ming

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Xiaojin Jiao & Steve Blair

  3. Department of Optics and Optical Engineering, Bio-laser Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, People’s Republic of China

    Guosheng Xue

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  1. Xiaolei Wen
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  2. Zheng Xi
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  3. Xiaojin Jiao
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  4. Wenhai Yu
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  5. Guosheng Xue
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  6. Douguo Zhang
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  7. Yonghua Lu
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  8. Pei Wang
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  9. Steve Blair
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  10. Hai Ming
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Correspondence to Pei Wang.

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Wen, X., Xi, Z., Jiao, X. et al. Plasmonic Coupling Effect in Ag Nanocap–Nanohole Pairs for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering. Plasmonics 8, 225–231 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-012-9379-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-012-9379-8

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