The total reflection of light at smooth and rough silver films and surface plasmons

Measurements of the reflection of thin silver films are reported which have been performed with the ATR method at constant wavelength λ as well as at constant angle of incidence θ. The backbending of the reflection minimum as a function of θ at constant λ is discussed. The influence of the interband absorption determines the R(θ,λ) dependence. Surface roughness displaces the turning point in the backbending curve.     

Polarization modulation spectroscopy of surface plasmon resonance

The features of surface plasmon resonance in gold nanofilms deposited on the surface of a total-internal-reflection prism have been investigated theoretically, using the Fresnel equation, and experimentally, with application of the polarization modulation technique. The angular characteristics of the polarization difference of the reflection coefficients for s-and p-polarized light, Δρ = R _s ² ? R _p ² , were measured in the wave-length range λ = 0.4–2.0 μm. It is shown that the characteristics of Δρ, in contrast to the results of standard measurements by the surface plasmon resonance method, have a resonance peak. Due to this, the characteristics of the polarization difference contain nonresonant components whose magnitudes are determined by the internal reflection coefficients for the metal and insulator; these parameters depend on the film thickness. The calculated and experimental data coincide when the model assumes exponential dependence of the refractive indices and extinction coefficients on the thickness of the metal film. It is established that the characteristic parameter of the exponential is a metal film thickness of 11.0 ± 0.5 nm, at which the film optical parameters correspond to the bulk characteristics.     

Impact of laser produced X-rays on the surface of gold

In the paper an attempt has been made to use the laser-induced plasma as an X-ray source for the growth of nanostructures on the surface of gold. For this purpose, an Nd:YAG laser operated at second harmonics (λ = 532 nm, E = 400 mJ) is used to produce plasma from analytical grade 5N pure Al, Cu and W targets. An analytical grade (5N pure) gold substrate was irradiated by X-rays generated from Al, Cu and W plasma under the vacuum ∼10⁻⁴ Torr. The surface was analyzed by two techniques, XRD and AFM. The aberrations in the XRD peaks show that there are significant structural changes in the exposed gold, in terms of decreased reflection intensities, increased dislocation line density, changes in the d-spacing and disturbance in the periodicity of the planes. AFM used to explore the topography of the irradiated gold reveals that regardless of the source, nm sized hillocks have been produced on the gold surface. The roughness of the surface has increased due to the growth of these hillocks.     

Polarization stokes polarimetry of the amplitude and phase characteristics of surface plasmon polariton resonance

The amplitude and phase characteristics of internal reflection of gold nanofilms have been investigated using polarization modulation of electromagnetic radiation in the Kretschmann geometry. The component Q (the difference between the reflection coefficients R _s ² and R _p ² for the s and p polarizations, respectively) and the component V of the Stokes vector (the difference between the phases of the orthogonal components of linearly polarized radiation) of light reflected from a half-cylinder of the total internal reflection with gold films of different thicknesses on its flat surface have been measured as a function of the angle of incidence of light in the wavelength range 500–1000 nm. It has been demonstrated that, in the range of parameters corresponding to the manifestation of the plasmon polariton resonance (the angle of incidence of light, the wavelength, the metal film thickness), the dispersions of the amplitude and phase characteristics are in quantitative and qualitative agreement with the model concepts of a classical oscillator.     

Doppler-shifted cyclotron resonance in tungsten plates with atomic pure surface

The surface resistance of thin monocrystalline W plates as a function of the constant magnetic field H directed along the normal to the sample surface is studied in the r.f. spectrum region. The sample surface was cleaned in high vaccum (10^-11 torr) or coated with the monomolecular impurity film. The oscillating with the magnetic field part R_osc due to the Doppler-shifted cyclotron resonance is studied. The doppleron oscillation amplitude is found to depend on the surface state and increases with the crystal cleaning. The observed changes are caused by the increase of the specular reflection coefficient for resonance electrons. With the deviation of the magnetic field from the normal to the plate surface, the doppleron wave undergoes a collisionless magnetic Landau damping and the signal amplitude decreases down to values comparable with that of Gantmakher-Kaner oscillations. Cleaning of the surface (and related increase of specularity) gives rise to a further decrease of the doppleron amplitude and appearance of additional interference maxima induced by the Gantmakher-Kaner effect.     

The analysis of surface processes on solid electrons by combined modulated ellipsometric and reflectometric experiments

The response of reflectometric and ellipsometric parameters to small changes in the properties of the metal-solution interphase is analysed by the use of linear approximation expressions. It is shown that the changes in R₆ and R_⊥ are generally closely related, and the ratio (δR/R_⊥ /δR/R_⊥∥ may be insensitive to the value of n?_film. On the other hand, the ratio δΔ/(δR/R_⊥)₆ is shown to have always good sensitivity to ^n?film. For two surface processes on solid electrodes, gold surface oxidation and hydrogen adsorption on platinum, it is demonstrated that the information extracted from the combined measurements of Δ and R transients is more detailed and informative compared with the evidence obtained by reflectometry alone. A fast component is resolved in the process of gold surface oxidation, and shown to result optically in an apparent metallic film, which probably reflects changes in the properties and structure of the metal surface atoms induced as the oxygen uptake commences.     

Optimization of VI/II pressure ratio in ZnTe growth on GaAs(0 0 1) by molecular beam epitaxy

ZnTe epilayers were grown on GaAs(0 0 1) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at different VI/II beam equivalent pressure (BEP) ratios (R_VI/II) in a wide range of 0.96-11 with constant Zn flux. Based on in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) observation, two-dimensional (2D) growth mode can be formed by increasing the R_VI/II to 2.8. The Te/Zn pressure ratios lower than 4.0 correspond to Zn-rich growth state, while the ratios over 6.4 correspond to Te-rich one. The Zn sticking coefficient at various VI/II ratios are derived by the growth rate measurement. The ZnTe epilayer grown at a R_VI/II of 6.4 displays the narrowest full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of double-crystal X-ray rocking curve (DCXRC) for (0 0 4) reflection. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterization shows that the grain size enlarges drastically with the R_VI/II. The surface root-mean-square (RMS) roughness decreases firstly, attains a minimum of 1.14 nm at a R_VI/II of 4.0 and then increases at higher ratios. It is suggested that the most suitable R_VI/II be controlled between 4.0 and 6.4 in order to grow high-quality ZnTe epitaxial thin films.     

Observation of Si(111) and gold-deposited Si(111) surfaces using micro-probe reflection high-energy electron diffraction

Observations of clean Si(111) and gold-deposited Si(111) surfaces have been performed using micro-probe reflection high-energy electron diffraction. It was found that many atomic steps on a Si(111) surface run in nearly the same direction, about 9° off the [1̄1̄2] direction. When gold was deposited on this surface at a substrate temperature of about 800°C, 5 × 1, diffuse √3 × √3R30°, sharp √3 × √3 R30° structures and Au clusters appeared on the surface with continuation of the deposition. During the deposition process, it was found that one kind of Si(111) 5 × 1 Au domain grew selectively along these atomic steps and nearly covered the entire surface. A phenomenon of gold clusters moving during the deposition was also observed. These clusters all moved in nearly the same direction so as to climb the atomic steps.     

Plasmon surface polariton luminescence from periodic metal gratings

When a gold grating is illuminated at an appropriate energy, polarization, and angle to excite a plasmon surface polariton (SP) all lower energy radiative SP states emit light. This enables the dispersion of SP states to be mapped by luminescence providing an alternative to reflectivity measurements. A similar effect has been observed for bare silver gratings, and silver gratings coated with several layers of cadmium arachidate by Langmuir-Blodgett technique. Two additional effects have been observed for Au gratings. First, one can obtain emission from radiative SP states by exciting the interband transition directly with photons of energy greater than approximately 2.4 eV. At these energies, SP states do not exist because the metal dielectric function has a large imaginary part. This is significant because it suggests that the degradation pathway involves electron-hole pair states as intermediates. Second, some gold gratings show $\text{surface enhanced Raman}$ of molecular species superimposed on the SP luminescence emission.     

Thermionic constants and electron reflection for Ta (100) by the shelton retarding field method

The Shelton retarding field method has been employed to determine the thermionic constants of the (100) surface of tantalum in the temperature range 1500 to 1730 K: φ* = = 4.16 ± 0.05 V, dφdT= 56 ± 5 μ V/K, and A_R = 122 ± 26 A/cm²K².φ = 4.24 ± 0.05 V at300 K. A refined analysis of the Shelton method shows the importance of four reflection coefficients, because of which, A_R cannot be identified unambiguously as the preexponental constant appearing in the Richardson equation. The dependence on incident energy of the electron reflection coefficient of Ta(100) was observed in the range 0–100 eV. The positions at 4.5, 8.0, 11.3, and 17.0 eV of relative reflection maxima agree closely with those observed by others for W(100). Advances are described in instrumentation, in experimental technique, and in acquisition and analysis of data.     

Explicit results for wave scattering and transmission through a rough fluid-fluid interface

This paper describes an analysis of reflection and transmission of acoustic waves from an imperfectly reflecting, rough fluid-fluid interface within the Kirchhoff approximation. It presents the results of calculations of the coherent and diffuse field. This work is motivated by the fact that few explicit results of the characteristics of the scattered and transmitted wave field exist in the literature for this problem. For the problem of interest, the surface reflection coefficient depends at each point upon the local angle between the incident wave and the rough surface. For surfaces with statistically independent local surface position and gradient, coherent field calculations show that the correction to constant reflection coefficient analyses is simply a multiplicative factor that depends upon the statistical characteristics of the surface gradient, sound speed and density ratio across the surface. This multiplicative factor is interpreted as an average reflection or transmission coefficient, <R> and <T>, respectively. The principle differences between these results and constant reflection coefficient analyses occur when waves impinge upon regions with higher sound speeds, where total internal reflection may occur. While the wave characteristics of smooth or constant reflection coefficient surfaces change abruptly in the vicinity of the angle of total internal reflection, the average reflection coefficient exhibits a much smoother dependence upon angle of incidence or sound speed ratio for rough surfaces. It is also shown that the direction of maximum diffuse scattering moves relative to its value were the reflection coefficient constant.     

Effects of Meissner surface current on the microwave surface resistance of type-II superconductors

Influence of the Meissner current on the field-induced variations of the microwave (mw) surface resistance in type-II superconductors is demonstrated to be well reproduced by exploiting different critical state models. R_s(B)/R_n versus B_a curves have been obtained using Kim and exponential type J_c(B) considering Meissner current circulating at the surface of the superconducting specimen.     

Temperature dependence of the surface free energies of solid chemical elements

The “surface free energy” of metals is αΔH′, where ΔH′ is the internal enthalpy (heat) of atomization and α is a constant (0<α<1). In this Letter an expression (−R ln m/ΔH′) for the temperature dependence of α has been derived and compared to the measured values. It has been found theoretically that this expression is independent of coordination number and that the m=4−10 upper layers of the surface contribute to the constitution of the properties of the metals (in good agreement with experiments).     

Modulation polarimetry of the topological effect in gold-organic nanocomposite films

The phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance in composite films consisting of gold nanoclusters in matrices of organic molecular materials calix[4]arene and poly(N-vinylcarbazole) has been investigated. The internal reflection coefficients R _s ² and R _p ² of s- and p-polarized light and their physical difference ρ = R _s ² ? R _p ² have been measured according to the Kretschmann scheme as a function of the angle of light incidence θ at different wavelengths λ in the range 400–1000 nm. The angular characteristics reflect the cluster structure of the films, which is confirmed by electron microscopy. A topological size effect has been revealed. This effect is associated with the dependence of the excitation energy efficiency of surface plasmons on the azimuth of the linearly polarized light, the shape, and the distribution of nanoclusters in the coordinate space. The dependences ρ(λ) demonstrate that the local plasmon resonance is excited by both s- and p-polarized light, whereas the polariton resonance is excited by s-polarized light. The sign of the curvature of the dependence ρ(θ) determines the predominance of the excitation energy efficiency of electromagnetic modes with one of the two states of polarization of the excitation radiation.     

Very low energy electron reflection at Cu(001) surfaces

Measurements of the coefficient of elastic reflection of very low energy electrons at Cu(001), Cu(001) (2 × 4)45°O and Cu(001)c(2 × 2)N surfaces are reported. The measurements refer to normally-incident electrons with kinetic energies E in the range 0.5–22 eV. The elastic reflection coefficient R_el was determined from separate observations of the total reflection coefficient and of the energy distribution of reflected electrons. For Cu(001) R_el is 0.55 at E = 0.5 eV and drops monotonically to 0.03 with increasing E, the maximum slope being at E = 3 eV. Theoretical calculations of R_el are reported. The reflection amplitude of the substrate crystal was parameterized using existing results of accurate band structure calculations, and the surface scattering matrix was evaluated for assumed surface scattering potentials. It is shown that to fit the observed R_el it is necessary to take account of both the image potential and the extension of the imaginary part of the crystal scattering potential into vacuum. From the fit, the range of the imaginary potential is 1.0 Å. For Cu(001) (2 × 4)45°O and Cu(001)c(2 × 2)N the values of R_el at E = 0.5 eV were 0.35 and 0.15, respectively. The effect of adsorption in reducing R_el is especially marked for E < 2 eV. Adsorption of either O or N results in an additional peak in R_el near E = 12 eV.     

Numerical simulation of the optical reflection and transmission coefficients of a periodic surface of metallic nanowire grating

The optical reflection and transmission coefficients of a metallic nanograting have been studied with the use of numerical simulation in a wide range of the size of structural units of the grating. The grating is composed of silver nanowires arranged periodically on a quartz substrate. The cases of s- and p-polarized incident waves have been considered. In particular, it has been found that the spectral dependence of the reflection and transmission coefficients of the nanograting becomes oscillatory and exhibits several deep minima when all structural parameters of the grating (the nanowire’s width and height, and the grating period) approach tens of nanometers. The physical reason of the appearance of these oscillations has been analyzed. It has been shown how the depth and position of the discovered minima depend on the light angle of the incident wave and the rotation angle of the grating around its normal surface.     

Chlorine chemisorption and surface chloride formation on Au(111)

The adsorption-desorption properties of the gold(111)-chlorine system have been investigated. Thermal desorption experiments following chlorine adsorption at 298 K indicated two desorption processes: the high temperature peak (ΔH = 217 kJmol^?1) showed desorption of equal numbers of molecukr and atomic chlorine species, while the lower temperature peak (ΔH = 140 kJmol^?1) was due to the desorption of Cl₂ only. Chlorine adsorption led to a maximum work function change of +0.5 V and electron-stimulated desorption proceeded with constant cross-section (1.4 × 10¹⁸ cm²), until all chlorine had been removed from the surface These observations are consistent with the immediate formation of a surface chloride (AuCl₃) during chlorine adsorption on Au(111) at 298 K without the intervention of an initial adsorbed overlayer.     

A relaxation phenomenon observed in fine gold wire

Two modulation techniques were used to determine the heat capacity of 1 mil gold wire as a function of temperature. A frequency effect was observed at high temperature in the directly measured parameter C_p/(1/R_m) (dR/dT)T_m where C_p is the specific heat at constant pressure and R_m is the resistance of the specimen at temperature T_m. It is believed that the vacancy defect is responsible for this frequency effect. The relaxation phenomenon observed suggests the surface of the wire as the source of the vacancies.     

Optical and electrochemical properties of ordered macroporous gold array on the ITO surface

The electrochemical and optical properties of transparent, two-dimensional macroporous gold film were investigated. Colloidal crystal templates were assembled onto indium-doped tin oxide (ITO) glass surface through vertical depositing method. Following gold electrodeposition, they were removed by dissolution with tetrahydrofuran (THF). The highly ordered macroporous gold array was achieved. It was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and ultraviolet visible (UV-vis) spectrophotometry. The optical transparency of the gold film was near 25% and fairly constant between 300 and 900 nm. The macroporous gold film electrode was mounted into a thin-layer transmission cell. The electrochemical response was evaluated by thin-layer cyclic voltammograms (CV) of the Fe (CN)₆³⁻/Fe (CN)₆⁴⁻ couple. Thin-layer cell exhibits good shape of waves and nearly symmetric cathodic and anodic waves. E⁰′ value and n of TMPD⁺/TMPD (TMPD is acronyms for N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine, and TMPD⁺ is its mono-cation radical) couple were determined. Furthermore, results demonstrated electrolytic equilibrium was faster reached in macroporous gold film than ITO electrode.