Development of low-loss materials for plasmonic applications

The importance of plasmonic materials is of increasing importance in modern photonics and nano-optics. Plasmonic applications require the search for new materials with metallic optical properties and low optical losses. In this project we present the development of plasmonic materials that show low imaginary permittivity and negative real permittivity. Special attention will be paid to phenomena at the interface of these materials, both in terms of structure (mutual interdiffusion, formation of intermetallic bonds) and in terms of optical and electrotransport properties (free electron concentrations and their relaxation frequency). The optical properties will be analyzed using ellipsometers operating in the infrared and visible regions of the spectrum. The presented project is divided into two parts: a) study of precious metals with a special focus on interface phenomena, b) study of transition metal nitrides. The development of nitrides will be focused on the tuning of optical properties by means of controlled non-stoichiometric growth.