Condensed
Matter & Surface Sciences
COLLOQUIUM
Jason Hafner
Physics,
Chemistry, and Biotechnology with Localized Surface Plasmon
Resonances
Noble metal nanoparticles
exhibit localized surface plasmon resonances of their
free electrons when excited by electromagnetic radiation. These
resonances result in sharp peaks in their absorption and scattering spectra,
and produce large local fields at the nanoparticle
surface. Such effects have been recently exploited for targeted biomedical
imaging, photothermal cancer therapy, and chemical
sensing. Plasmon resonances are also highly
sensitive to the local dielectric environment.
This effect can be exploited to create simple, yet powerful affinity
biosensors for the detection of low-level analytes.
I will discuss our recent work on the chemical synthesis, optical
properties, and sensing applications of gold nanorods
and gold nanostars.