Contacts:
Supervisors:
Prof. Francesco Pineider
Title:
Exploring magneto-optical properties in plasmonic and magnetoplasmonic nanostructures
Abstract:
My PhD project involves the synthesis, characterization and evaluation of magneto-optical properties of magnetoplasmonic nanostructures.
The modulation of the optical response of plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) by means of an external magnetic field, i.e. magnetoplasmonics, can trigger interesting innovations in the design of optical switches, modulators or more efficient refractometric sensors [1,2]. The enhancement of this magnetic modulation is a challenging goal in magnetoplasmonics. A previous work proved the ability of Magnetic Circular Dichroism (MCD) to detect small magnetic field-induced energy shifts of the plasmonic modes in simple Au NPs, which were modelled in terms of simple equations of motion of free electrons [3,4]. Nevertheless, the MCD signal of Au NPs is small and it can be further enhanced through the design and preparation of new magnetoplasmonic NPs with tailored properties. In my PhD project I am exploiting two main strategies to this purpose, which involve different kind of nanostructured materials. These materials are synthesized by colloidal chemistry approaches, and characterized structurally, magnetically, optically and magneto-optically.
The first approach is the preparation of hybridized magnetoplasmonic NPs, by alloying Au with magnetic metals (Fe, Co or Ni) and exploiting the magnetic interaction between the conduction electrons of Au and the spin polarized electrons of magnetic metals to increase the magnetic modulation. Different composition of the NPs are evaluated, in order to introduce magnetic properties without damping the plasmonic resonance and find the right balance between plasmonic and magnetic properties.
The second approach consists in the use of heavily doped semiconductors. Among these class of plasmonic materials, n-doped Indium-Tin-Oxide (n-ITO) NPs display a sharp plasmonic absorption in the Near-Infrared region of the spectrum [5,6]. Thanks to the low LSPR peak width and to the lower electron effective mass of n-ITO with respect to Au, the magnetic modulation of surface plasmons in n-ITO NPs is at least one order of magnitude higher than in simple Au NPs.
[1] G. Armelles et al., Advanced Optical Materials 1, 10-35 (2013).
[2] G. Pellegrini et al., ‘Magnetoplasmonics’ in Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology, Springer 2016.
[3] F. Pineider et al., Nano letters 13, 4785–4789 (2013).
[4] B. Sepulveda et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 147401 (2010).
[5] M. Kanehara et al., JACS 131, 17736–17737 (2009).
[6] G. Shiva Shanker et al., Chem. of Mat. 27, 892-900 (2015).
Publications:
• M. Bonini, A. Gabbani, S. Del Buffa, F. Ridi, P. Baglioni, R. Bordes, K. Holmberg, Adsorption of amino acids and glutamic acid-based surfactants on imogolite clays, 2017, Langmuir, 33 (9), pp 2411–2419. DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b04414.
• G. Bresciani, M. Bortoluzzi, S. Zacchini, A. Gabbani, F. Pineider, F. Marchetti and G. Pampaloni, Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Non-Homoleptic Carbamato Complexes of V(V) and W(VI), and Their Facile Implantation on Silica Surfaces, March 14, 2018 Issue10, Pages 1176-1184, European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, DOI: 10.1002/ejic.201701260
• G. Bresciani, F. Marchetti, G. Rizzi, A. Gabbani, F. Pineider, G. Pampaloni, Metal N,N-dialkylcarbamates as Easily Available Catalytic Precursors for the Carbon Dioxide/Propylene Oxide Coupling Under Ambient Conditions, Volume 28, December 2018, Pages 168-173, Journal of CO2 utilization, DOI: 10.1016/j.jcou.2018.09.023.
• G. Varvaro, A. Di Trolio, A. Polimeni, A. Gabbani, F. Pineider, C. de Julián Fernández, G. Barucca, P. Mengucci, and A.M.Testa, Giant magneto-optical response in H+ irradiated Zn1-xCoxO thin films, 2018, Journal of Material Chemistry C, DOI: 10.1039/C8TC03563F
Oral communications at congress:
• Magnetic modulation of surface plasmons in magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles, Alessio Gabbani, Elvira Fantechi, Vincenzo Amendola, Angshuman Nag, Massimo Gurioli, Andrea Caneschi, Claudio Sangregorio, Francesco Pineider, Plasmonica 2018, 4-6 July 2018, Firenze
• Magnetoplasmonic nanoalloys, Alessio Gabbani, Elvira Fantechi, Claudio Sangregorio, Francesco Pineider, International Meeting on Nanoalloys - IMN2019, 4-7 June 2019, Genova, Italy,
• Coupling Plasmonics with Magnetism in Hybrid Magnetoplasmonic Nanoalloys, Alessio Gabbani, Elvira Fantechi, Claudio Sangregorio, Francesco Pineider, Workshop Plasmonica 2019, 19-21 June 2019, Napoli, Italy, oral presentation:
• Chiro-optics of 2D-chiral Gold Nanodisk Trimers, Alessio Gabbani, Alberto Lopez-Ortega, Mario Zapata, Nicoló Maccaferri, Francesco Pineider, Paolo Vavassori, Workshop Nanoscale Optical Chirality, 27-28 June 2019, Pisa
• Magneto-optical and chiro-optical properties in plasmonic nanomaterials, Alessio Gabbani, Elvira Fantechi, Claudio Sangregorio, Paolo Vavassori, Francesco Pineider, Chemistry for the Future 2019, 3-5 July 2019, Pisa, Italy
• Magnetic modulation of surface plasmons in magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles, Alessio Gabbani, Elvira Fantechi, Vincenzo Amendola, Angshuman Nag, Andrea Caneschi, Claudio Sangregorio, Francesco Pineider, JEMS 2019, Joint European Magnetism Symposia. 25-30 August 2019, Uppsala, Sweden
Poster communications at congress:
• Magnetoplasmonic hybrid nanoparticles, Alessio Gabbani, Elvira Fantechi, Claudio Sangregorio, Francesco Pineider, European School on Magnetism 2017 – Condensed Matter Magnetism: Bulk meets nano, 9-23 October 2017, Cargese, Corsica (France);
• Magnetic modulation of surface plasmons in magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles, Alessio Gabbani, Elvira Fantechi, Vincenzo Amendola, Angshuman Nag, Massimo Gurioli, Andrea Caneschi, Claudio Sangregorio, Francesco Pineider, Plasmonica 2018, School of Plasmonics and Nano-optics, 15-18 June 2018, Cetraro (Italy)
• Magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles with enhanced magneto-optical response, Alessio Gabbani, Elvira Fantechi, Vincenzo Amendola, Angshuman Nag, Massimo Gurioli, Andrea Caneschi, Claudio Sangregorio, Francesco Pineider, Chemistry for the Future 2018, 4-6 July 2018, Pisa.
• Chiro-optics of 2D-chiral Gold Nanodisk Trimers, Alessio Gabbani, Alberto Lopez-Ortega, Mario Zapata, Nicoló Maccaferri, Francesco Pineider, Paolo Vavassori, CD2019, 23-27 June 2019, Pisa
