Light in the World of Nanotechnology A Comprehensible Introduction to the Basics and Applications.

45 Pages·2021·0.842 MB·English

by  Christian Schneider

Christian Schneider
Light in the World
of Nanotechnology
A Comprehensible Introduction
to the Basics and Applications
essentials
Springer essentials
Springer essentials provide up-to-date knowledge in a concentrated form. They
aim to deliver the essence of what counts as “state-of-the-art” in the cur-
rent academic discussion or in practice. With their quick, uncomplicated and
comprehensibleinformation,essentialsprovide:
(cid:129) anintroductiontoacurrentissuewithinyourfieldofexpertise
(cid:129) anintroductiontoanewtopicofinterest
(cid:129) aninsight,inordertobeabletojoininthediscussiononaparticulartopic
Available in electronic and printed format, the books present expert knowledge
fromSpringerspecialistauthorsinacompactform.Theyareparticularlysuitable
foruseaseBooksontabletPCs,eBookreadersandsmartphones.Springeressen-
tials form modules of knowledge from the areas economics, social sciences and
humanities, technology and natural sciences, as well as from medicine, psycho-
logy and health professions, written by renowned Springer-authors across many
disciplines.
More information about this subseries at https://link.springer.com/bookseries/
16761
Christian Schneider
Light in the World
of Nanotechnology
A Comprehensible Introduction to
the Basics and Applications
ChristianSchneider
TUKaiserslauternFachbereichPhysik
Kaiserslautern,Germany
ISSN2197-6708 ISSN2197-6716 (electronic)
essentials
ISSN2731-3107 ISSN2731-3115 (electronic)
Springeressentials
ISBN978-3-658-33069-9 ISBN978-3-658-33070-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-33070-5
©SpringerFachmedienWiesbadenGmbH,partofSpringerNature2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole
or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmission
orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilaror
dissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis
publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt
fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthis
bookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernorthe
authorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressedorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontained
hereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwith
regardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations.
ResponsibleEditor:MargitMaly
ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerFachmedienWiesbaden
GmbHpartofSpringerNature.
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Abraham-Lincoln-Str.46,65189Wiesbaden,Germany
essential
WhatYou Can Find in this
(cid:129) Howlightinteractswithmatter
(cid:129) Whatmakesthephysicsofthenanoworldspecial
(cid:129) Hownanostructurescanbeproduced
(cid:129) Aselectionofnanotechnologicalapplications
(cid:129) Newideasfromresearchontheuseofnanotechnology
v
Preface
Only 100 years ago, Max Planck—one of the co-founders of quantum mecha-
nics—was advised not to study physics, since everything important had already
beenresearched.Buteventodaywestillliveinanexcitingphysicaltime!Nobel
prizes are awarded for inventions such as the CCD sensor or the blue light-
emitting diode, and discoveries such as the Higgs boson or gravitational waves
showthatphysicsresearchisbynomeansatanend.
Today,theadvanceintoamicroscopicallysmallworldallowsevernew,some-
times groundbreaking discoveries and inventions. A good example of this is
nanotechnology. In the first chapter of this book, I would like to show you the
physical principles on which nanotechnological applications are based. In the
nextchapter,Iwillfirstdiscussmethodsforproducingnanostructures.Afterward,
some exemplary selected applications are presented, ranging from those already
activelyusedtothosestillinresearch.
Withthisbook,youcanembarkonajourneyintotheworldofnanotechnology,
gainaninsightintotheresultingpossibilitiesandperhapsevenlearnaboutthings
familiarfromyoureverydaylifefromadifferentperspective!
Iwishyoumuchpleasurewiththisessential andexcitingfieldofresearch!
ChristianSchneider
vii
Contents
1 Introduction ................................................... 1
2 FundamentalsofLight-BasedNanotechnology .................... 3
2.1 WhatisLight? ............................................. 3
2.2 FromIndividualAtomstoSolidBodies ....................... 6
2.3 TheWorldisColorful:ResonancesandMieTheory ............ 10
3 ProductionofNanostructures ................................... 15
3.1 ElectronBeamLithography ................................. 15
3.2 FocusedIonBeam(FIB)Milling ............................. 17
3.3 ChemicalSynthesis ........................................ 18
4 Applications ................................................... 21
4.1 StainedGlassWindows ..................................... 21
4.2 DiagnosisandTherapy:UseofNanoparticlesinMedicine ...... 25
4.3 ElectricityfromLight:NanotechnologyinSolarCells .......... 28
4.4 TheColorfulWorldofPlasmonsforDigitalApplications ....... 33
5 SummaryandOutlook ......................................... 37
References ........................................................ 41
ix
1
Introduction
In recent decades, there has been an increasing trend toward miniaturization of
components.Thelecture“There’sPlentyofRoomattheBottom”1 bytheAmeri-
canphysicistRichardFeynmanisoftencitedasthefatherofthisidea(Feynman
n.y.).In1959,Feynmandescribedhowthe“downwardleeway”—i.e.,themicros-
copic range—can be used. He calculated, for example, that with the help of
nanotechnology (a word he did not use throughout his presentation), the entire
information available worldwide in the form of books (approximately 24 million
books)couldbestoredinacubewithanedgelengthofhalfamillimeter.
These then visionary ideas have now partly become reality and nanotech-
nology is part of our everyday life. Nano—Greek for “dwarf” —is incredibly
small: 1 nanometer (nm) is 10−9 m—that is, one billionth of a meter or mil-
lionth of a millimeter. One nanometer to the diameter of an orange is like the
diameter of an orange to that of the earth! In the field of basic research, nano-
technologyiscurrentlyverybig:theFederalMinistryofEducationandResearch
(Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) alone spends around
e220 million annually on research and development in the field of nanotechno-
logy. According to the “nano.DE Report 2013” (Federal Ministry of Education
and Research 2013), which was also published by the BMBF, the turnover of
Germannanotechnologycompaniesin2013wasapproximatelye15billion.
Nanotechnology is therefore currently experiencing a boom—new types of
effectsthatpromiseinterestingandversatiletechnologicalapplicationsareemer-
ging.Despitetheriseofnanotechnologyinthelast50years,thefirsteffectsbased
on it reach far back into the Middle Ages, where alchemists used gold nanopar-
ticles to color the windows in churches. However, a physical description of this
effectbecamepossibleforthefirsttimeatthebeginningofthetwentiethcentury,
1German:EsgibtvielSpielraumnachunten.
©SpringerFachmedienWiesbadenGmbH,partofSpringerNature2022 1
C.Schneider,LightintheWorldofNanotechnology,essentials,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-33070-5_1
2 1 Introduction
after James Clerk Maxwell presented his equations for describing light waves.
Based on these equations, the physicist Gustav Mie developed a theory to des-
cribe the light absorption of metallic nanoparticles in his article “Contributions
totheopticsofturbidmedia,especiallycolloidalmetalsolutions”(“Beiträgezur
Optik trüber Medien, speziell kolloidaler Metallösungen”) (Mie, 1908), which is
knowntodayasthe“Mietheory.”
Itishopedthatnewfindingsinnanotechnologywillnotonlyleadtoaminiatu-
rizationofexistingcomponents,butalsoabovealltoimprovementsinmanyareas
of daily life, ranging from medical analysis and treatment methods, electronics,
sensorandmeasurementtechnologytoenergytechnology,wherenanotechnology
isused,amongotherthings,toincreasetheefficiencyofsolarcells.
Nanotechnology is thus not a science limited to one subject area of physics,
but is used in a wide variety of research and application areas. Therefore, this
text can only deal with a partial aspect of nanotechnology. Thus, the following
chapters will deal with various exciting effects of the interaction of light with
nanoparticles, which could perhaps revolutionize our lives in various areas in a
fewyears.