Plasmonic properties of ion-shaped nanoparticles

In the last years, ion-shaping technique has been proposed as an innovative and powerful tool to sculpt the matter at the nanometer scale [1-3]. Its importance relays in its unique capability to control both the morphology and the spatial orientation of metallic nanoparticles embedded within an amorphous host matrix. For example, spherical nanoparticles embedded within a dielectric matrix can be shaped into a nanowires along the ion-beam, fig. 1a). However, more complex shapes can also be obtained, e.g. a solid sphere with two arms. or onion-like NPs (prolate hollow NPs and prolate silica@metal nanoshell), fig 1b). Consequently, ion-shaping technique can be seen as a novel route for downscaling the engineering of embedded NPs with a precision that is barely reachable with standard techniques, fig 1c).