Noble metals are the most studied plasmonic materials due to their chemical stability, small ohmic losses and high DC conductivity. However, the majority of electronic states in the valence band of these metals require at least 2 eV to excite. Therefore, even Au, which is often used for near-infrared hot carrier applications, has a band structure that is not ideal for this low energy wavelength regime. One possible route to improving the efficiency of hot carrier generation in noble metals at near-infrared wavelengths, is to shift their electronic density of states (EDOS) closer to the Fermi level via alloying with a transition metal.

Here, we present the tuning of optical and electronic properties of co-evaporated Au-Pd alloy thin films at different compositions by taking ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) measurements to represent the EDOS, ellipsometry measurements to show the modulated dielectric function and the calculated plasmonic quality factors, and infrared-pump/THz-probe spectroscopy measurements for studying the dynamics of the hot carrier generation in the near-infrared regime. For comparison, calculated EDOS and hot carrier distributions for these alloys are also shown. Furthermore, we characterized the alloy thin film structural properties by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD).

Our GIRXD results show that all Au-Pd alloy thin films are true alloys (single phase). UPS data supports our initial hypothesis that adding Pd to Au considerably increases the EDOS in the near-infrared region. The calculated hot carrier distribution show that adding Pd to Au increases the number of carriers generated, and that the Au-Pd alloys thin films generate hotter holes than electrons. Finally, time-dependent changes in ∆E/E from 1550 nm-pump/ THz-probe spectroscopy illustrate that for Pd and Au-Pd alloys there is a change in the conductivity attributed to contributions arising from both thermal and nonthermal electron distribution, while for Au there is no evidence of transitions under 1550 nm pump-excitation. We hypothesize this is due to a lower generation rate of hot carriers in Au than for Pd and Au-Pd alloys in the near-infrared regime.