The spin Hall effect in single-crystalline gold thin films

The spin Hall effect has been investigated in 10-nm-thick epitaxial Au(001) single crystal films via H-pattern devices,whose minimum characteristic dimension is about 40 nm. By improving the film quality and optimizing the in-plane geometry parameters of the devices, we explicitly extract the spin Hall effect contribution from the ballistic and bypass contribution which were previously reported to be dominating the non-local voltage. Furthermore, we calculate a lower limit of the spin Hall angle of 0.08 at room temperature. Our results indicate that the giant spin Hall effect in Au thin films is dominated not by the interior defects scattering, but by the surface scattering. Besides, our results also provide an additional experimental method to determine the magnitude of spin Hall angle unambiguously.

New approach to fabricate nanoporous gold film

A simple preparation of ultrathin nanoporous gold film was described. Copper and gold were used to fabricate Cu-Au alloy films through vacuum deposition. The formation of nanoporous gold films from the alloy films involved thermal process and chemical etch by hydrochloric acid or by nitric acid. The free-standing nanoporous gold films have been analyzed by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, X-ray photoelectron spectrometer （XPS） and surface-enhanced Raman scattering （SELLS）. R was noted that the nanoporous gold film etched by hydrochloric acid is uniform with a cover of fog-like moieties.

The determination of the thickness and the optical dispersion property of gold film using spectroscopy of a surface plasmon in the frequency domain

We propose to use wavelength modulation approach,i.e.,the spectroscopy of a surface plasmon in the frequency domain,to characterize the optical dispersion property of gold film.Using this method,we determine the dispersion relationship of gold film in a wavelength range from 537.12 nm to 905.52 nm,and our results accord well with the reported results by other authors.This method is particularly suited for studying the optical dispersion properties of thin metal films,because a series of dielectric constants over a wide spectral range can be determined simultaneously via only a single scan of the incident angle,thereby avoiding the repeated measurements required when using the angular modulation approach.

A high figure of merit localized surface plasmon sensor based on a gold nanograting on the top of a gold planar film

We investigate the sensitivity and figure of merit （FOM） of a localized surface plasmon （LSP） sensor with gold nanograting on the top of planar metallic film. The sensitivity of the localized surface plasmon sensor is 317 nm/RIU, and the FOM is predicted to be above 8, which is very high for a localized surface plasmon sensor. By employing the rigorous coupled-wave analysis （RCWA） method, we analyze the distribution of the magnetic field and find that the sensing property of our proposed system is attributed to the interactions between the localized surface plasmon around the gold nanostrips and the surface plasmon polarition on the surface of the gold planar metallic film. These findings are important for developing high FOM localized surface plasmon sensors.

Structure and internal stress of Au films deposited on SiO_2/Si(100) and mica by dc sputtering

Au films with a thickness of about 300 nm were deposited on SiO_2/Si(100) andmica substrates by dc sputtering. X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and field emission scanningelectron microscopy were used to analyze the structure and internal stress of the Au films. Thefirms grown on SiO_2/Si(100) show a preferential orientation of [111] in the growth direction.However the films grown on mica have mixture crystalline orientations of [111], [200], [220] and[311] in the growth direction and the orientations of [200] and [311] are slightly more than thoseof [111] and [220]. An internal stress in the films grown on SiO_2/Si(100) is tensile. For Au filmsgrown on mica the internal stresses in the [111]- and [311]-orientation grains are compressive whilethose in the [200]- and [220]-orientation grains are tensile. Au films grown SiO_2/Si(100) havesome very large grains with a size of about 400 nm and have a wider grain size distribution comparedwith those grown on mica.

Preparation and Characterization of Gold Thin Film Electrode Modified by Microbe

A novel method based on microbe modification has been employed to prepare gold thin film electrode. The preparation method is simple and the electrode obtained is stable and very sensitive in determining heavy metal ions. The quantitation limit of Cu2+ is 0.05 ng/mL.

Effects of annealing time on the structure, morphology, and stress of gold–chromium bilayer film

In this work, a 200-nm-thick gold film with a 10-nm-thick chromium layer used as an adhesive layer is fabricated on fused silica by the electron beam evaporation method. The effects of annealing time at 300℃ on the structure, morphology and stress of the film are studied. We find that chromium could diffuse to the surface of the film by formatting a solid solution with gold during annealing. Meanwhile, chromium is oxidized on the surface and diffused downward along the grain grooves in the gold film. The various operant mechanisms that change the residual stresses of gold films for different annealing times are discussed.

QCM and EC-SPR Studies of Cytochrome c Self-assembled on Au Electrode and Enhancement of SPR Signal by Au Nanoparticles

Quartz crystal microbalance（QCM） and cyclic voltammetry（CV） were used to characterize the monolayer of cytochrome c（Cyt c）,which was adsorbed on gold film modified with alkanethiol mixed monolayer.A direct comparison of protein surface coverages calculated from QCM and cyclic voltammetric measurements illustrates that the ratio of the electroactive Cyt c to the total surface-confined Cyt c is 34%,which suggests that the orientation is a main factor affecting the electroactivity of Cyt c.Moreover,surface plasmon resonance（SPR） measurement combined with CV ＂in situ＂ was used to investigate the conformational change of Cyt c in the redox process.Besides,Au nanoparticles（Au NPs） were adsorbed on the surface of Cyt c.The result indicates that Au NPs promote electron transfer between Cyt c and the gold electrode,and SPR result suggests Au NPs enhance SPR signal.

Electrochemical synthesis of silver nanoparticles-coated gold nanoporous film electrode and its application to amperometric detection for trace Cr(VI)

A simple and rapid approach for the electrochemical synthesis of Ag nanoparticles-coated gold nanoporous film (AgGNF) on a gold substrate was reported. The solid gold electrode (SGE) was directly anodized under a high potential of 5 V, and then reduced to obtain gold nanoporous film (AuNF) by freshly prepared ascorbic acid. The Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) were grown on the AuNF electrode by potential-step electrodeposition. The resulting AgGNF composites electrodes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry (CV). As-prepared AgGNF electrode was used as a kind of superior sensor for Cr(VI) detection, which exhibited better electrocatalytic behavior than those of AuNF and SGE under identical conditions. Such a designed AgGNF nanocomposites electrode showed outstanding sensitivity (about 0.15 nA/ppb) and favorable reproducibility for Cr(VI) detection. The dependence of reduction current on Cr(VI) concentration is linear from 2 to 370 ppb with a low detection limit of 0.65 ppb. Interferences from other heavy metals ions (Cr3+, Cu2+, Pb2+, As3+ and Hg2+) associated with Cr(VI) analysis could be effectively diminished. The present method proves to be rapid, reliable, sensitive and low-cost.

Enhancement of Surface Plasmon Fiber Sensor Sensitivity Through the Grafting of Gold Nanoparticles

The optical fibers,coated with plasmonic active metal films,represent the simple and unpretentious sensors,potentially useful for measurements of physical or chemical quantities and wide range of analytical application.All fiber-based plasmonic sensors operate on the same physical principle based on changes in the position of the plasmon absorption peak induced by a variation of surrounding medium refractive index.However,the observed spectral differences are often weak,and thus an enhancement of sensor sensitivity is strongly required.In this paper,we propose the immobilization of gold nanoparticles with sharp edges on the thin gold layer,deposited on the multimode fiber surface for improvement of the sensor functionality.The morphological and compositional changes in the gold covered fiber surface were determined by using the atomic force microscopy,scanning electron microscopy,and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy methods.As a result of gold nanoparticles immobilization,the pronounced plasmon energy concentration near the fiber surface occurred,thus enhancing the response of the proposed hybrid plasmonic system to the variation of ambient refractive index.The position of plasmon absorption in the case of the created plasmonic structure was shown to be more sensitive to the changes in the surrounding medium in comparison with the standard sensors based on the bare gold layer.

Film Ace Takes Gold

"Really, I never, never expected to win this," said Chinese director Jia Zhangke on hearing he had taken the top award for his movie Still Life (Sanxia Haoren) at the Venice Film Festival, on September 9. A surprise late entry, Still Life quickly emerged as the favorite and the Gold Lion was again hugged by Chinese. The well-known Chinese director Zhang Yimou won the same award back in 1999, for Not One Less-also