Nanostructured Ag/ZnO multilayer plasmonic composites

We investigated pulsed laser deposited and laser annealed multilayer nanostructures of Ag and ZnO. The laser induced surface modification was applied for decomposition of the silver layer into nanoparticles. The morphology of the Ag nanoparticles is of critical importance in what concerns the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties of such multilayer structures. The combined study of the optical transmission and photoluminescence (PL) properties of the Ag/ZnO structures showed that the surface-plasmon-mediated emission is determined by both the Ag particles size and density. The study of the correlation between the structure of Ag nanoparticles array and its optical properties provides information on the threedimensional reconstruction of nanocomposites from a two-dimensional structure. The PL peak in the ultraviolet (UV) spectral region does not change substantially, while the shape and position of the visible (VIS) emission spectrum is changed and shifted towards the shorter wavelengths after the laser nanostructuring.