BY Zheng, H Zhao, A Manjavacas, M McClain, P Nordlander, and NJ Halas

The generation of photocurrent from decaying plasmons in metal nanostructures is an interesting approach for photodetection and photovoltaics that has recently received much attention. However, there are two mechanisms that can contribute to the photocurrent: direct absorption in the metal and generation/decay of plasmons, and it has been unclear which is dominant. Zheng et al. perform careful experiments using Schottky and Ohmic junction photodetectors that allow them to conclude that plasmonic carrier generation can be the dominant mechanism over direct excitation.

Journal Name: 
in Nature Communications
Year of Publication: 
2015