Temperature dependence of plasmon resonances in spheroidal metal nanoparticles

Abstract

The effect of the electron temperature on both the light absorption and the scattering by metal nanoparticles (MNs) with excitation of the surface plasmon electron vibrations is studied in the framework of the kinetic theory. The formulae for electroconductivity and polarizability tensors are derived for finite temperatures of an electron gas. The electrical conductivity and the halfwidth of the surface plasmon resonance are studied in detail for a spherical MN. Depending on the size of MN, the efficiencies of light absorption and scattering with the temperature change are investigated. It is found, in particular, that the absorption efficiency can both increase and decrease with a temperature drop. The derived formulas make it possible to analytically calculate various optical and transport phenomena for MNs of any spheroidal shape embedded in any dielectric media.

Keywords

• electron temperature
• metal nanoparticles
• electroconductivity
• polarizability tensor
• surface plasmon resonance