Plasmonic enhancement of the vanadium dioxide phase transition induced by low-power laser irradiation

Nanocomposites consisting of gold nanoparticle (NP) arrays and vanadium dioxide (VO₂) thin films are noteworthy for the tunability of both their thermal and optical properties. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the Au can be tuned when its dielectric environment is modulated by the semiconducting-to-metal phase transition (SMT) of the VO₂; the LSPR itself can be altered by changing the shape of the NPs and the pitch of the NP array. In principle, then it should be possible to choose a combination of VO₂ film and Au LSPR properties that maximizes the overall optical response of the nanocomposite. To demonstrate this effect, transient transmission measurements were conducted on lithographically fabricated arrays of Au NPs of diameter 140?nm, array spacing 350 nm, and covered with a 60?nm thick films of VO₂ via pulsed laser deposition. Both Au::VO₂ nanocomposites and bare VO₂ film were irradiated with a shuttered 785?nm pump laser, and their optical response was probed at 1550?nm by a fixed-frequency diode laser. The Au::VO₂ nanocomposite exhibited an increased effective absorption coefficient 1.5 times that of the plain film and required 37?% less laser power to induce the SMT. The time-dependent temperature rise in the film as a function of laser intensity was calculated from these measurements and compared with both analytic and finite-element models. Our results suggest that Au::VO₂ nanocomposites may be useful in applications such as thermal-management coatings for energy efficient ??smart?? windows.