Surface plasmon resonance of gold nanoparticle arrays partially embedded in quartz substrates

Arrays of gold nanoparticles were fabricated using a sacrificial etch mask of polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) self-assembled at the air-water interface. Removal of the nanoparticles from the substrate revealed substrate topology leading to estimates of the nanoparticle shape as well as the average depth to which the nanoparticles are embedded in the solid substrate. A simple effective-medium approximation yields estimates of the surface plasmon resonance energy using the Mie model. This method was extended to predict estimates of the nanoparticle embedded depth as well as the nanoparticle shape.