Size and temperature dependent plasmons of quantum particles

Abstract

This work reports on the influences of temperature changes on plasmons of metallic particles that are so small that electric carriers in the conduction band are forced to be at discrete sub-bands due to quantum confinement. In the framework of the electron-in-a-box model and with an every-electron-count computational scheme, the spatial electric distribution inside the particle is calculated. In the calculations, the intra-subband fluctuations are taken into account. The numerical results have shown that the small-particle plasmon frequency shifts with the temperature. The findings suggest that it would be possible to control the plasmons of quantum particles externally.