Silicon is a high refractive index material. Consequently, silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with diameters on the order of the wavelengths of visible light show strong resonant field enhancement of the incident light, so this type of nanomaterial is a good candidate for all kinds of photonic devices. Surprisingly enough, a thorough experimental and theoretical analysis of both the polarization dependence of the absorption and the scattering behavior of individual SiNWs under defined illumination has not been presented yet. Here, the present paper will contribute by showing optical properties such as scattering and absorption of individual SiNWs experimentally in an optical microscope using bright- and dark-field illumination modes as well as in analytical Mie calculations. Experimental and calculation results are in good agreement, and both reveal a strong correlation of the optical properties of individual SiNWs to their diameters. This finding supports the notion that SiNWs can be used in photonic applications such as for photovoltaics or optical sensors.

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Electrical and optical properties of semiconducting nanowires (NWs) strongly depend on their diameters. Therefore, a precise knowledge of their diameters is essential for any kind of device integration. Here, we present an optical method based on dark field optical microscopy to easily determine the diameters of individual NWs with an accuracy of a few nanometers and thus a relative error of less than 10%. The underlying physical principle of this method is that strong Mie resonances dominate the optical scattering spectra of most semiconducting NWs and can thus be exploited. The feasibility of this method is demonstrated using GaAs NWs but it should be applicable to most types of semiconducting NWs as well. Dark field optical microscopy shows that even slight tapering of the NWs, i.e. diameter variations of a few nanometers, can be detected by a visible color change. Abrupt diameter changes of a few nanometers, as they occur for example when growth conditions vary, can be determined as well. In addition a profound analysis of the elastic scattering properties of individual GaAs NWs is presented theoretically using Mie calculations as well as experimentally by dark field microscopy. This method has the advantage that no vacuum technique is needed, a fast and reliable analysis is possible based on cheap standard hardware.

Driven by the demand for ongoing integration and increased complexity of today's microelectronic circuits, smaller and smaller structures need to be fabricated with a high throughput. In contrast to serial nanofabrication techniques, based, e.g., on electron beam or scanning probe methods, optical methods allow a parallel approach and thus a high throughput. However, they rarely reach the desired resolution. One example is plasmon lithography, which is limited by the utilized plasmonic metal structures. Here we show a new approach extending plasmonic lithography with the potential for a highly parallel nanofabrication with a higher level of complexity based on nanoantenna effects combined with molecular nanowires. Thereby femtosecond laser pulse light is converted by Ag nanoparticles into a high plasmonic excitation guided along attached DNA structures. An underlying poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layer acting as an electron-sensitive resist is so structured along the former DNA position. This apparently DNA-guided effect leads to nanometer grooves reaching even micrometers away from the excited nanoparticle, representing a novel effect of long-range excitation transfer along DNA nanowires.

Certain metal nanoparticles exhibit the effect of localized surface plasmon resonance when interacting with light, based on collective oscillations of their conduction electrons. The interaction of this effect with molecules is of great interest for a variety of research disciplines, both in optics and in the life sciences. This paper attempts to describe and structure this emerging field of molecular plasmonics, situated between the molecular world and plasmonic effects in metal nanostructures, and demonstrates the potential of these developments for a variety of applications.