Strong Light-Matter Coupling With Plasmonic Nanostructures

Our earths diminishing natural resources is at the forefront of scientific concern, where utilising energy sources readily available in nature has become the driving force for many fields of research. Noble metal plasmonic nanoparticles are a unique and promising class of material for light harvesting, capable of highly absorbing light and converting its energy in useful ways. Under appropriate conditions, these materials can strongly couple with light and surrounding materials, where light energy fed into the system is equally exchanged. Consequently, these systems allow the observation of energy transfer, sometimes termed ‘artificial photosynthesis’, along with the possible observation of quantum effects in ambient conditions, deeming them highly desirable. Unfortunately, due to their nanoscale size, the fabrication of such nanomaterials along with the conditions required to achieve strong coupling are extremely difficult to realise in scalable macroscopic systems, thus many efforts into optimising strongly coupled systems focus heavily on altering its optical components. This thesis investigates the strong coupling capabilities of plasmonic nanoparticles in strongly coupled systems, utilising wet chemistry to facilitate the observation of their fascinating physics. This thesis provides a comprehensive study of the strong coupling capabilities of plasmonic nanomaterials by investigating their implementation into various strong coupling designs. Further, it offers design freedoms for future strong coupling systems, whereby manipulation and control of the plasmonic components is shown.