Metal nanocrystals and semiconductor quantum dots and have the ability to absorb and scatter light very efficiently. This study concerns special designs of hybrid nanostructures with electromagnetic hot spots, where the electromagnetic field becomes strongly enhanced. Overall plasmonic nanostructures with hot spots demonstrate strongly amplified optical and energy-related effects.

• Using nanoparticle arrays made of different metals, one can transfer plasmonic signals coherently and with small losses [1].
• Plasmonic hot spots efficiently generate energetic electrons, which can be used for photochemistry and photodetection [2,3].
• Using nanostructures with hot spots, one can strongly enhance optical generation of heat and also confine high photo-temperatures in small volumes [4,5].
• Colloidal nanocrystal assemblies with plasmon resonances allow us to strongly enhance chiral optical responses (circular dichroism) of biomolecules and drugs [6,7].

[1] E.-M. Roller, et al., Nature Physics 13, 761 (2017).

[2] A.O. Govorov, H. Zhang, H.V. Demir and Y. K. Gun’ko, Nano Today 9, 85 (2014).

[3] H. Harutyunyan, et al., Nature Nanotech. 10, 770 (2015).

[4] A. O. Govorov and H. Richardson, Nano Today 2, 20 (2007).

[5] C. Jack, et al., Nat. Commun. Volume:7, 10946 (2016).

[6] A. O. Govorov, et al., Nano Letters 10, 1374–1382 (2010).

[7] A. Kuzyk, et al., Nature 483, 311 (2012).