Single-particle optical investigations have greatly improved our understanding of the fundamental properties of nano-objects, avoiding the spurious inhomogeneous effects that affect ensemble experiments. Correlation with high-resolution imaging techniques providing morphological information (e.g. electron microscopy) allows a quantitative interpretation of the optical measurements by means of a...

Tuning localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of nanoporous metals is crucial to manipulate light within tiny volumes for the implementation of optical devices at the nanoscale. Herein, nanoporous gold-alumina core-shell films with constant gold skeleton and variable alumina sheaths are fabricated by means of chemical corrosion and subsequent atomic layer deposition. Optical transmission pr...

Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording: Fundamental Limits to Inverse Electromagnetic Design by Samarth Bhargava Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering – Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences University of California, Berkeley Professor Eli Yablonovitch, Chair In this dissertation, we address the burgeoning fields of diffractive optics, metals-optics and plasmonics, and computational inverse prob...

Low-energy nuclear reactions in micro/nano-scale metal particles are described based on the theory of Bose–Einstein condensation nuclear fusion (BECNF). The BECNF theory is based on a single basic assumption capable of explaining the observed LENR phenomena; deuterons in metals undergo Bose–Einstein condensation. The BECNF theory is also a quantitative predictive physical theory. Experimental t...

The processing of bulk metals through the application of severe plastic deformation (SPD) provides an opportunity for achieving excellent grain refinement to the submicrometer or even the nanometer range. These SPD procedures produce materials exhibiting improved mechanical properties including very high strength. This report describes recent results demonstrating the strengthening of conventio...

Related Articles Probing electron-phonon coupling in metals via observations of ablation plumes produced by two delayed short laser pulses Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 081502 (2011) Luminescence properties and optical dephasing in a glass-ceramic containing sodium-niobate nanocrystals J. Appl. Phys. 109, 113108 (2011) Multimodal plasmon coupling in low symmetry gold nanoparticle pairs detected in surf...

A possibility of growing highly mismatched and yet two-dimensional heteroepitaxial deposits, is both fascinating in terms of basic science and technologically important. So far, stabilization of flat morphology by a reduction of the overall electron energy in a quantum well (hence termed ‘‘electronic growth’’), has been observed exclusively in heteroepitaxy of simple metals, lead, and silver. T...

Nanomechanics and structural design of MEMS are intimately tied together. As mechanical properties of hard materials are found to be strongly sample-size dependent, new criteria are in demand for size-dependent structural analysis and design of MEMS components. The paper offers a critical survey of some of the most interesting and challenging advances in nanomechanics of metals from a MEMS desi...

Mechanistic descriptions of void-dominated ductile failure are largely based on studies from several decades ago that relied on optical microscopy techniques [1] [2]. This talk will discuss how modern techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), site-specific focused ion beam (FIB) sample preparation, and transmission electron microscopy (TE...