Thermoplasmonics of metal layers and nanoholes

Since the early 2000s, the experimental and theoretical studies of photothermal effects in plasmonics have been mainly oriented toward systems composed of nanoparticles, mostly motivated by applications in biomedecine, and have overlooked the case of plasmonic resonances of nanoholes in metal layers (also called nanopores or nano-apertures). Yet, more and more applications based on plasmonic nanoholes have been reported these last years (e.g., optical trapping, molecular sensing, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering), and photothermal effects can be unexpectedly high for this kind of systems, mainly because of the very large amount of metal under illumination, compared with nanoparticle systems. Nanoholes in metal layers involve a fully different photothermodynamical picture, and few of what is known about nanoparticles can be applied with nanoholes. A plasmonic nanohole mixes localized and surfaces plasmons, along with heat transport in a two-dimensional highly conductive layer, making the underlying photothermodynamical physics particularly complex. This Tutorial is aimed to provide a comprehensive description of the photothermal effects in plasmonics when metal layers are involved, based on experimental, theoretical, and numerical results. Photothermal effects in metal layers (embedded or suspended) are first described in detail, followed by the study of nanoholes, where we revisit the concept of absorption cross section and discuss the influences of parameters such as layer thickness, layer composition, nanohole size and geometry, adhesion layer, thermal radiation, and illumination wavelength.