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Dynamic optical properties of gold nanoparticles/cholesteric liquid crystal arrays

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Abstract

A thermoresponsive large-area plasmonic architecture, made from randomly distributed gold nanoparticles (GNPs) located at the substrate interface of a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) cell, is fabricated and thoroughly characterized. A photo-thermal heating effect due to the localized plasmonic resonance (LPR) mechanism is generated by pumping the GNP array with a resonant light beam. The photo-induced heat, propagating through the CLC layer, induces a gradual phase transition from the cholesteric to isotropic phase. Both the plasmonic and photonic properties of the system as both the selective reflection properties and frequency of the LPR are modulated.

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Acknowledgment

The authors thank Rankess Dominguez for the discussions and assistance. This research was partially supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), US Air Force, under grant FA9550-18-1-0038 (P. I. L. De Sio, EOARD 2017-2020) and the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, AFRL.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beam Engineering for Advanced Measurements Company, Orlando, Florida, 32810, USA

    Luciano De Sio & Nelson Tabiryan

  2. Department of Medico-surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies, Sapienza University of Rome, Corso della Repubblica 79, 04100, Latina, Italy

    Luciano De Sio

  3. CNR-Lab. Licryl, Institute NANOTEC, 87036, Arcavacata di Rende, Italy

    Luciano De Sio

  4. Département de Chimie Physique, Université de Genève, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1211, Genève, Switzerland

    Ugo Cataldi

  5. CNR-Lab. Licryl, Institute NANOTEC, 87036, Arcavacata di Rende, Italy

    Alexa Guglielmelli

  6. Department of Physics, University of Calabria, 87036, Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy

    Alexa Guglielmelli

  7. Département de Chimie Physique, Université de Genève, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1211, Genève, Switzerland

    Thomas Bürgi

  8. Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 45433-7707, USA

    Timothy J. Bunning

Authors
  1. Luciano De Sio
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  2. Ugo Cataldi
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  3. Thomas Bürgi
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  4. Nelson Tabiryan
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  5. Alexa Guglielmelli
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  6. Timothy J. Bunning
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luciano De Sio.

Author contributions The manuscript was written through contributions of all authors. All authors have given approval to the final version of the manuscript.

Author contributions The manuscript was written through contributions of all authors. All authors have given approval to the final version of the manuscript.

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De Sio, L., Cataldi, U., Bürgi, T. et al. Dynamic optical properties of gold nanoparticles/cholesteric liquid crystal arrays. MRS Communications 8, 550–555 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2018.80

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2018.80

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