Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Utilization of Plasmonic and Photonic Crystal Nanostructures for Enhanced Micro- and Nanoparticle Manipulation
Published on: September 27, 2011
Chiral Plasmonic Surface Temperature Switching by Several Tens of Kelvins in Titanium Nitride Nanostructures
Kenji Setoura1, Tomoya Oshikiri2,3, Mamoru Tamura4,5
1Department of Electrical Materials and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Hyogo, Himeji, Hyogo 671-2280, Japan.
Abstract:
The strong asymmetric optical response of plasmonic metal nanostructures to right- and left-handed circularly polarized light has attracted great interest in nanotechnology. However, when considering heat generation in these structures, the surface temperature distribution becomes nearly isothermal regardless of which handedness of circularly polarized light is used. This is because of the high thermal conductivity of noble metals and the diffusive nature of heat transfer. In this study, we experimentally show that the surface temperature patterns of chiral plasmonic nanostructures made from titanium nitride, which has a thermal conductivity less than 10% that of gold, become clearly different under right- and left-circularly polarized light, with the temperature contrast reaching several tens of kelvins. This temperature switching allows nanoscale spatial control of photothermal chemical reactions. Our findings suggest a significant potential for shaping nanoscale temperature distributions in the field of thermoplasmonics.
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Heating and Cooling Curves
For instance, the addition of heat raises the temperature of a solid; the amount of heat absorbed depends on the heat capacity of the solid (q = mcsolidΔT). According to thermochemistry, the relation between the amount of heat absorbed or released by a substance, q, and its...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
¹H NMR of Conformationally Flexible Molecules: Variable-Temperature NMR
Phase Transitions

