Photothermal Microscopy and
Spectroscopy Webinar

Gold nanocrystals (NCs) have drawn tremendous interest in the scientific community due to their unique ability to interact with light via localized surface plasmons. When irradiated with ultrafast pulsed lasers, the lattice temperature of gold NCs can rapidly increase, which results in strong morphological, structural, and aggregation state modifications. Thereby, ultrafast pulsed laser irradiation can lead to the formation of metastable gold nanostructures with distinctive physicochemical features. In this webinar, I will discuss the importance of controlling the heating and cooling dynamics to achieve desired morphological and structural changes [1]. In addition, I will demonstrate the need for advanced electron microscopy characterization techniques and single-particle studies to understand the detailed atomistic mechanisms behind the modifications following pulsed laser irradiation [2]. Finally, I will give an example of how controlled restructuring of gold nanocrystals led to novel physical insights of plasmon damping [3].

[1] G. González-Rubio, W. Albrecht, Appl. Phys. Lett. 121, 200502 (2022).
[2] W. Albrecht at al., Adv. Mater. 33, 2100972 (2021).
[3] T. M. de Oliveira et al., ACS Nano 14, 12558–12570 (2020).