title: Ultrasmall silver nanopores fabricated by femtosecond laser pulses.
abstract: Ultrasmall nanopores in silver thin films with a diameter of about 2 nm have been fabricated using femtosecond laser ablation in liquid. Ultrafast laser pulse ablation generates highly nonequilibrium excitated states, from which silver thin films emerge and progressively grow with the assistance of capping agent molecules. During this growth process, capping agent molecules are enclaved within the film, leaving individual ultrasmall pores in the thin film. Our first-principles calculations show that the pore size is critically determined by the dimension of the confined molecules. Our approach advances the capability of optical methods in making nanoscale structures with potential applications in areas such as near-field aperture probes, imaging masks, magnetic plasmonic resonances, and biosensing with individual nanopores.
authors: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Bian
authors: Y C
authors: YC
authors: Tian
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Wang
authors: H X
authors: HX
authors: Yang
authors: Hongxing
authors: H
authors: Xu
authors: Sheng
authors: S
authors: Meng
authors: Jimin
authors: J
authors: Zhao