Light-induced mass transport in amorphous chalcogenides: Towards surface plasmon-assisted nanolithography and near-field nanoimaging

Two types of amorphous functional materials, based on lightsensitive inorganic compounds like Se and As20Se80 chalcogenide glass (ChG) were investigated with the aim to establish the influence of plasmonic fields, excited by the band-gap light in nanocomposite layers made of these compounds and gold nanoparticles on their photomechanical response. Both these basic materials are characterized by pronounced photoplastic effect and used for real-time optical recording of optoelectronic elements (based mainly on surface relief gratings) due to high photofluidity and polarization-dependent masstransport. We established that mass-transport processes in these ChG can be enhanced in the presence of localized plasmonic fields generated by light if the condition of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is fulfilled. The subjects of special interest are the mass-transport processes at the nano-scale stimulated in the nano-copmosite layers of either by the uniform or periodically distributed optical fields. It was found that irradiation by light with SPR really enhance the efficiency of masstransport and produce surface nanostructurizations. The variation in the topography follows closely and permanently the underlying near field intensity pattern.