Single and bilayer films of silver and gold for active plasmonics: Structural properties, dielectric permittivities and radiation resistance

In this work, we present experimental study on structural peculiarities and optical properties of single silver, gold and bilayer films of these metals. We illustrate that the treatment of substrate defines structural quality and roughness of the fabricated films. Considering the problem of radiation (temperature) resistances of plasmonic/active material systems, films covered by a layer of PMMA and a monolayer of quantum dots were under study in the presence of cw laser radiation. We demonstrate an irreversible effect of cw laser pumping radiation of a moderate power density on the properties of the studied plasmonic/active material system.