Enhanced Raman scattering by molecules adsorbed at the surface of colloidal spheroids

Abstract

Equations are derived and calculations are presented for the electrodynamic mechanism of enhanced Raman scattering by molecules at the surface of prolate and oblate spheroids in the small-particle limit. The molecules may be arbitrarily distributed; the particles may be arbitrarily oriented. Calculations are presented for a monolayer distributed over randomly oriented spheroids. The effects of particle shape are considered for Ag, Au, and Cu hydrosols. The peak enhancement moves to longer wavelengths, and in the case of Au and Cu the magnitude of the enhancement increases strikingly as the eccentricity increases. The relation between the dependence of the Raman enhancement upon excitation wavelength and the extinction spectra is discussed, including the precariousness of extrapolating such relations beyond the small-particle limit.