Linear light scattering by individual nanoscopic metal wire tips is investigated. Using evanescent-wave excitation, the spectral and polarization dependence of the emission are addressed. Choosing gold and tungsten as representative tip materials, intense scattering and a strongly plasmon-resonant behavior observed for gold contrasts a comparatively weak and spectrally flat response for tungsten. Spectral dependence and local-field enhancement are found to be sensitive to details of the structural parameters and can be described by a simple model. The results provide selection criteria for tips to be used in scattering-type near-field microscopy or photoemission in inelastic tunneling spectroscopy.
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Neacsu, C.C., Steudle, G.A. & Raschke, M.B. Plasmonic light scattering from nanoscopic metal tips. Appl. Phys. B 80, 295–300 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-005-1748-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-005-1748-y