Using highly accurate 3D nanometrology to model the optical properties of highly irregular nanoparticles: a powerful tool for rational design of plasmonic devices.

The realization of materials at the nanometer scale creates new challenges for quantitative characterization and modeling as many physical and chemical properties at the nanoscale are highly size and shape-dependent. In particular, the accurate nanometrological characterization of noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) is crucial for understanding their optical response that is determined by the collective excitation of conduction electrons, known as localized surface plasmons. Its manipulation gives place to a variety of applications in ultrasensitive spectroscopies, photonics, improved photovoltaics, imaging, and cancer therapy. Here we show that by combining electron tomography with electrodynamic simulations an accurate optical model of a highly irregular gold NP synthesized by chemical methods could be achieved. This constitutes a novel and rigorous tool for understanding the plasmonic properties of real three-dimensional nano-objects.