Rice University researchers show short laser pulses
selectively heat gold nanoparticles
Plasmonic gold nanoparticles make pinpoint heating on demand
possible. Now Rice University researchers have found a way to selectively heat
diverse nanoparticles that could advance their use in medicine and industry.
Rice scientists led by Dmitri Lapotko and Ekaterina
Lukianova-Hleb showed common gold nanoparticles, known since the 19th century
as gold colloids, heat up at near-infrared wavelengths as narrow as a few
nanometers when hit by very short pulses of laser light. The surprising effect
reported in Advanced Materials appears to be related to nonstationary optical
excitation of plasmonic nanoparticles. Plasmons are free electrons on the
surface of metals that become excited by the input of energy, typically from
light. Moving plasmons can transform optical energy into heat.