Thermal effect of plasmon oscillations on the tunnel current in gold nanoisland thin film at low laser intensity

The effect of plasmon oscillations on the DC tunnel current in a gold nanoisland thin film (GNITF) is investigated using low intensity P similar to 1 W/cm(2) continuous wave lasers. While DC voltages (1-150 V) were applied to the GNITF, it was irradiated with lasers at different wavelengths (lambda = 473, 532, and 633 nm). Because of plasmon oscillations, the tunnel current increased. It is found that the tunnel current enhancement is mainly due to the thermal effect of plasmon oscillations rather than other plasmonic effects. The results are highly relevant to applications of plasmonic effects in opto-electronic devices. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4798535]