Toward optical sensing of metal nanoparticles using chiral sculptured thin films

Abstract

A nominal model wherein the nanowires of a chiral sculptured thin film (STF) are considered as strings of slender ellipsoids indicates that the circular Bragg phenomenon evinced by chiral STFs can be exploited to optically sense small concentrations of metal nanoparticles. © 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.