No Arabic abstract
X-band electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy has been performed for gold nanorods (AuNRs) of four different sizes covered with a diamagnetic stabilizing component, cetyltrimethylammmonium bromide. The ESR spectra show ferromagnetic features such as hysteresis and resonance field shift, depending on the size of the AuNRs. In addition, the ferromagnetic transition is indicated by an abrupt change in the spectra of the two smallest AuNRs studied. A large g-value in the paramagnetic region suggests that the ferromagnetism in the AuNRs originates from strong spin-orbit interaction.
When spin relaxation is governed by spontaneous emission of a photon into the resonator used for signal detection (the Purcell effect), the relaxation time $T_1$ depends on the spin-resonator frequency detuning $delta$ and coupling constant $g$. We analyze the consequences of this unusual dependence for the amplitude and temporal shape of a spin-echo in a number of different experimental situations. When the coupling $g$ is distributed inhomogeneously, we find that the effective spin-echo relaxation time measured in a saturation recovery sequence strongly depends on the parameters of the detection echo. When the spin linewidth is larger than the resonator bandwidth, the Fourier components of the echo relax with different characteristic times, which implies that the temporal shape of the echo becomes dependent on the repetition time of the experiment. We provide experimental evidence of these effects with an ensemble of donor spins in silicon at millikelvin temperatures measured by a superconducting micro-resonator.
We demonstrate electron spin polarization detection and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy using a direct current superconducting quantum interference device (dc-SQUID) magnetometer. Our target electron spin ensemble is directly glued on the dc-SQUID magnetometer that detects electron spin polarization induced by a external magnetic field or EPR in micrometer-sized area. The minimum distinguishable number of polarized spins and sensing volume of the electron spin polarization detection and the EPR spectroscopy are estimated to be $sim$$10^6$ and $sim$$10^{-10}$ $mathrm{cm}^{3}$ ($sim$0.1 pl), respectively.
The vibrations of gold nanowires and nanorods are investigated numerically in the framework of continuum elasticity using the Rayleigh-Ritz variational method. Special attention is paid to identify the vibrations relevant in Raman scattering experiments. A comprehensive description of the vibrations of nanorods is proposed by determining their symmetry, comparing with standing waves in the corresponding nanowires and estimating their Raman intensity. The role of experimentally relevant parameters such as the anisotropic cubic lattice structure, the presence of faceted lateral surfaces and the shape of the ends of the nanorods is evaluated. Elastic anisotropy is shown to play a significant role contrarily to the presence of facets. Localized vibrations are found for nanorods with flat ends. Their evolution as the shape of the ends is changed to half-spheres is discussed.
A nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a promising sensor for nanoscale magnetic sensing. Here we report electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy using a single NV center in diamond. First, using a 230 GHz ESR spectrometer, we performed ensemble ESR of a type-Ib sample crystal and identified a substitutional single nitrogen impurity as a major paramagnetic center in the sample crystal. Then, we carried out free-induction decay and spin echo measurements of the single NV center to study static and dynamic properties of nanoscale bath spins surrounding the NV center. We also measured ESR spectrum of the bath spins using double electron-electron resonance spectroscopy with the single NV center. The spectrum analysis of the NV-based ESR measurement identified that the detected spins are the nitrogen impurity spins. The experiment was also performed with several other single NV centers in the diamond sample and demonstrated that the properties of the bath spins are unique to the NV centers indicating the probe of spins in the microscopic volume using NV-based ESR. Finally, we discussed the number of spins detected by the NV-based ESR spectroscopy. By comparing the experimental result with simulation, we estimated the number of the detected spins to be $leq$ 50 spins.
The two-photon luminescence (TPL) of gold nanoparticles (NP) was shown to result from the excitation of hot carriers, the plasmonic NP resonances playing an important role both for plasmon enhanced absorption and plasmon enhanced emission. However, the exact parameters enabling to control or optimize the NP nonlinear luminescence still need to be understood in detail. In this paper, we report the two-photon excited photoluminescence of single gold nanorods exhibiting identical aspect ratio (close to 4) and thus identical plasmonic resonances, but increasing volumes V (707 <V< 160 103 nm3 i.e. rod diameters varying between 6 and 40 nm). The two-photon luminescence intensity of a high number of colloidal nanorods was investigated at the single object level, combining polarization resolved TPL and simultaneously acquired topography. Non-monotonic TPL variations are evidenced, nanorods with an intermediate size (diameter around 10 nanometers) exhibiting the highest TPL signal intensity. A model is proposed considering both the local field enhancement effects at the NP and the size-dependent electron thermalization processes. BEM (Boundary Elements Method) simulations are used to compute the fields at both the transverse and longitudinal plasmon resonance. A good fitting of the experimental data is obtained considering integration of the fields over the whole the NP volume.