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Enhanced Multiphoton-Induced Luminescence in Silver Nanoparticles Fabricated with Nanosphere Lithography

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Abstract

We study multiphoton-absorption-induced luminescence (MAIL) in triangular silver nanoprisms fabricated with nanosphere lithography. We observe strong MAIL when the exciting infrared fs laser pulses overlap the main surface plasmon resonance of the particles, with significantly less signal from off-resonance structures present on the same substrate. The MAIL signal partially bleaches during imaging, but at higher illumination intensities, certain particles undergo a sudden multiplefold increase in MAIL brightness, which we show is associated with the deformation or melting of the particles into spheroids. The brightening may be due to the reduction of surface silver oxide into strongly luminescent silver nanoclusters or to the formation or activation of emission centers on the particle surface triggered by the melting of the particle. Regardless of the exact nature of the emission, silver oxide plays an important role in the process, evidenced by a twofold or threefold increase in MAIL luminosity from the triangular particles when their surface oxide is chemically reduced during imaging.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) at Virginia Tech and by grants from the National Science Foundation under agreements CBET-0756693 and DMR-1006753. We thank Prof. Amanda Morris for assistance with the silver oxide reduction chemistry.

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  1. Virginia Tech Department of Physics, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Chih-Yu Jao, Brenden A. Magill, Kai Chen, Erich M. See & Hans D. Robinson

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  1. Chih-Yu Jao
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  2. Brenden A. Magill
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  5. Hans D. Robinson
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Correspondence to Hans D. Robinson.

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Jao, CY., Magill, B.A., Chen, K. et al. Enhanced Multiphoton-Induced Luminescence in Silver Nanoparticles Fabricated with Nanosphere Lithography. Plasmonics 10, 87–98 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9781-5

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