Photoemission of Plasmonic Gold Nanostars in Laser-Controlled Electron Current Devices for Technical and Biomedical Applications.

The main goal of this work was to modify the previously developed blade-type planar structure using plasmonic gold nanostars in order to stimulate photofield emission and provide efficient laser control of the electron current. Localization and enhancement of the field at the tips of gold nanostars provided a significant increase in the tunneling electron current in the experimental sample (both electrical field and photofield emission). Irradiation at a wavelength in the vicinity of the plasmon resonance (red laser) provided a gain in the photoresponse value of up to 5 times compared to irradiation far from the resonance (green laser). The prospects for transition to regimes of structure irradiation by femtosecond laser pulses at the wavelength of surface plasmon resonance, which lead to an increase in the local optical field, are discussed. The kinetics of the energy density of photoinduced hot and thermalized electrons is estimated. The proposed laser-controlled matrix current source is promising for use in X-ray computed tomography systems.

Modeling of Laser-Induced Plasmon Effects in GNS-DLC-Based Material for Application in X-ray Source Array Sensors.

An important direction in the development of X-ray computed tomography sensors in systems with increased scanning speed and spatial resolution is the creation of an array of miniature current sources. In this paper, we describe a new material based on gold nanostars (GNS) embedded in nanoscale diamond-like carbon (DLC) films (thickness of 20 nm) for constructing a pixel current source with photoinduced electron emission. The effect of localized surface plasmon resonance in GNS on optical properties in the wavelength range from UV to near IR, peculiarities of localization of field and thermal sources, generation of high-energy hot electrons, and mechanisms of their transportation in vacuum are investigated. The advantages of the proposed material and the prospects for using X-ray computed tomography in the matrix source are evaluated.

Laser-induced tissue hyperthermia mediated by gold nanoparticles: toward cancer phototherapy.

We describe an application of plasmonic silica/gold nanoshells to produce a controllable laser hyperthermia in tissues with the aim of the enhancement of cancer photothermal therapy. Laser irradiation parameters are optimized on the basis of preliminary experimental studies using a test-tube phantom and laboratory rats. Temperature distributions on the animal skin surface at hypodermic and intramuscular injection of gold nanoparticle suspensions and affectations by the laser radiation are measured in vivo with a thermal imaging system. The results of temperature measurements are compared with tissue histology.

Circulation and distribution of gold nanoparticles and induced alterations of tissue morphology at intravenous particle delivery.

Kinetics, biodistribution, and histological studies were performed to evaluate the particle-size effects on the distribution of 15 nm and 50 nm PEG-coated colloidal gold (CG) particles and 160 nm silica/gold nanoshells (NSs) in rats and rabbits. The above nanoparticles (NPs) were used as a model because of their importance for current biomedical applications such as photothermal therapy, optical coherence tomography, and resonance-scattering imaging. The dynamics of NPs circulation in vivo was evaluated after intravenous administration of 15 nm CG NPs to rabbit, and the maximal concentrations of gold were observed 15-30 min after injection. Rats were injected in the tail vein with PEG-coated NPs (about 0.3 mg Au/kg rats). 24 h after injection, the accumulation of gold in different organs and blood was determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. In accordance with the published reports, we observed 15 nm particles in all organs with rather smooth distribution over liver, spleen and blood. By contrast, the larger NSs were accumulated mainly in the liver and spleen. For rabbits, the biodistribution was similar (72 h after intravenous injection). We report also preliminary data on the light microscopy and TEM histological examination that allows evaluation of the changes in biotissues after gold NPs treatment.