Coherent excitation of vibrational modes in metallic nanoparticles

Excitation of metal nanoparticles with subpicosecond laser pulses causes a rapid increase in the lattice temperature, which can impulsively excite the phonon modes of the particle that correlate with the expansion coordinates. The vibrational periods depend on the size, shape, and elastic constants of the particles. Thus, time-resolved spectroscopy can be used to examine the material properties of nanometer-sized objects. This review provides a brief overview of the steady-state and time-resolved electronic spectroscopy of metal particles, which is important for understanding why vibrational motion appears in transient absorption traces. I also describe how the vibrational modes observed in the experiments are assigned, and what information can be obtained from the measurements. Our work has been mainly concerned with noble metal particles (gold and silver) in aqueous solution. The different shapes that have been examined to date include spheres, rods, and triangles, all with different sizes.