Laser nanostructuring of thin Au films for application in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy

This paper presents experimental results of excimer laser nanomodification of thin gold films. Films with different thicknesses and deposition conditions are produced on SiO 2 substrate by pulsed laser deposition technique. Laser annealing of the deposited thin films results in its nanostructuring as the film is decomposed into nanoparticles with diameters in the range of few tens of nanometers. The produced nanostructured surfaces are covered with Rodamine 6G and tested as active substrates for Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). The SERS enhancement factor is estimated as high as 10 7 . The explanation of the results is made on the basis of the properties of the electromagnetic field in the near field zone of the nanostructured surface described by Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulation technique.