Dielectric-function analysis of metals for plasmonic-device application

Abstract

We study the potential of various metals (Pt, Al, Cu and Ni) as plasmonic material used for devices by analyzing their complex permittivity and comparing with other metals. Metals were characterized by using high-resolution spectroscopic ellipsometry covering energy range of 0.5 to 6.5 eV. In fitting process, instead using Drude model, we used the combination of Lorentz model to describe optical properties of metals. The results show that each metal has unique different features of ϵ1 and ϵ2 in range of far-infrared to vacuum-ultraviolet. Also, the loss by interband transition is observable for some metals. Furthermore, the plasmonic quality-factor, which are related to electric-field enhancement and heat production generated by surface plasmon, of metal nanoparticle have been calculated and we found the optimum region of device application for each metal. From this study, Cu is promising metal working in near-infrared to visible area potentially to substitute noble Ag and Au. On the other hand, Al is the best metal to be applied as plasmonic device working in ultraviolet region. Moreover, enhancement of plasmonic quality-factor by changing geometry and environment of metal is also discussed. Our studies give an alternative of fundamental perspective for plasmonic-device development especially for energy-harvesting purposes.