Plasmonic response and transformation mechanism upon single laser exposure of metal discontinuous films

Ag and Au discontinuous films were exposed to single nanosecond pulses of a homogenized beam of an excimer laser operating at 193 nm. For low fluences, the films convert into big, almost spherical and isolated nanoparticles (NPs) due to laser-induced dewetting. Their optical response exhibits a sharp surface plasmon resonance (SPR) consistent with that of spherical and non-interacting NPs. For higher fluences, the formation of many small NPs and almost no big NPs is observed instead. The SPR features change and the plasmonic response becomes influenced by multipolar interactions among neighbouring NPs. Low and high fluence regimes are respectively related to melting and boiling threshold of the metal, and additionally, craters appear in the latter regime.