Clusters of closely spaced gold nanoparticles as a source of two-photon photoluminescence at visible wavelengths

Gold nanostructures consisting of nanoblocks separated by a few nanometer-wide gaps were fabricated, and found to exhibit strong photoluminescence due to enhancement of the optical near-field localized in the nanogaps. The fabricated structures demonstrate a nanostructured metallic material capable of efficient photoluminescence, whose efficiency can be adjusted by tailoring the nanogap width.