Studies on metal-dielectric plasmonic structures

The interaction of light with nanostructured metal leads to a number of fascinating phenomena, including plasmon oscillations that can be harnessed for a variety of cutting-edge applications. Plasmon oscillation modes are the collective oscillation of free electrons in metals under incident light. Previously, surface plasmon modes have been used for communication, sensing, nonlinear optics and novel physics studies. In this report, we describe the scientific research completed on metal-dielectric plasmonic films accomplished during a multi-year Purdue Excellence in Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship sponsored by Sandia National Laboratories. A variety of plasmonic structures, from random 2D metal-dielectric films to 3D composite metal-dielectric films, have been studied in this research for applications such as surface-enhanced Raman sensing, tunable superlenses with resolutions beyond the diffraction limit, enhanced molecular absorption, infrared obscurants, and other real-world applications.