Chapter 5
Ultrafast Nonlinear Plasmonics
Fabrice Vallée and Natalia Del Fatti
Abstract The mechanisms at the origin of the ultrafast third-order optical nonlinearity of metallic and plasmonic materials are described focusing on the dominant
resonant processes associated to energy absorption. Optical nonlinearity is discussed
in terms of ultrafast modifications of the dielectric function of the constituting metal
as a consequence of electron and lattice heating, using a bulk-like model. Based on
this description, the time- and spectral-dependent nonlinear changes of the optical
response of plasmonic materials due to interaction with a femtosecond light pulse
are modeled. The results are illustrated in the case of an individual gold nanoparticle for different shapes (sphere, ellipsoid, and rod), and for an ensemble of gold
nanoparticles dispersed in a dielectric matrix. The same approach can be extended
to more complex plasmonic materials or meta-materials.
Keywords Surface plasmon · Nonlinear optics · Ultrafast dynamics
5.1 Introduction
Experimental and theoretical investigations of the new properties of nanoobjects
and nanomaterials have been an intense field of researches during the last decade.
They are motivated by the possibility of modifying and controlling the physical
and chemical properties of nanomaterials, playing with the size, shape, structure
or composition of the nanoobjects they are formed of, and with their organization
F. Vallée (B)
FemtoNanoOptics Group, LASIM, CNRS and Universtié Lyon 1, 43 Bd. du 11 November, 69622
Villeurbanne, France
e-mail: fabrice.vallee@univ-lyon1.fr
N. Del Fatti
Institut Lumière Matière, CNRS and Universtié Lyon 1, 43 Bd. du 11 November, 69622
Villeurbanne, France
T. V. Shahbazyan and M. I. Stockman (eds.), Plasmonics: Theory and Applications,
167
Challenges and Advances in Computational Chemistry and Physics 15,
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-7805-4_5, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Ultrafast Nonlinear Plasmonics
Fabrice Vallée and Natalia Del Fatti
Abstract The mechanisms at the origin of the ultrafast third-order optical nonlinearity of metallic and plasmonic materials are described focusing on the dominant
resonant processes associated to energy absorption. Optical nonlinearity is discussed
in terms of ultrafast modifications of the dielectric function of the constituting metal
as a consequence of electron and lattice heating, using a bulk-like model. Based on
this description, the time- and spectral-dependent nonlinear changes of the optical
response of plasmonic materials due to interaction with a femtosecond light pulse
are modeled. The results are illustrated in the case of an individual gold nanoparticle for different shapes (sphere, ellipsoid, and rod), and for an ensemble of gold
nanoparticles dispersed in a dielectric matrix. The same approach can be extended
to more complex plasmonic materials or meta-materials.
Keywords Surface plasmon · Nonlinear optics · Ultrafast dynamics
5.1 Introduction
Experimental and theoretical investigations of the new properties of nanoobjects
and nanomaterials have been an intense field of researches during the last decade.
They are motivated by the possibility of modifying and controlling the physical
and chemical properties of nanomaterials, playing with the size, shape, structure
or composition of the nanoobjects they are formed of, and with their organization
F. Vallée (B)
FemtoNanoOptics Group, LASIM, CNRS and Universtié Lyon 1, 43 Bd. du 11 November, 69622
Villeurbanne, France
e-mail: fabrice.vallee@univ-lyon1.fr
N. Del Fatti
Institut Lumière Matière, CNRS and Universtié Lyon 1, 43 Bd. du 11 November, 69622
Villeurbanne, France
T. V. Shahbazyan and M. I. Stockman (eds.), Plasmonics: Theory and Applications,
167
Challenges and Advances in Computational Chemistry and Physics 15,
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-7805-4_5, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013