Optical efficiency of Ag and Au nanoparticles

Abstract

In this paper, we present the results of calculations aimed at the optical radiation efficiency of Ag and Au nanoparticles, which is defined by the ratio of the scattering cross-section to the extinction one. The calculations were performed using Mie theory formalism for surrounding medium of various refractive indexes. It has been shown that silver nanoparticles exhibit substantially larger optical efficiency in a broad spectral range as compared to gold nanoparticles. The optical efficiency for silver nanoparticles with diameters over 90 nm exceeds 90%.