@article{ZamponiPenfoldNachtegaaletal.2014,
  author    = {Zamponi, Flavio and Penfold, Thomas J. and Nachtegaal, Maarten and L{\"u}bcke, Andrea and Rittmann, Jochen and Milne, Chris J. and Chergui, Majed and van Bokhoven, Jeroen A.},
  title     = {Probing the dynamics of plasmon-excited hexanethiol-capped gold nanoparticles by picosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy},
  series = {physical chemistry, chemical physics : PCCP},
  volume    = {2014},
  journal   = {physical chemistry, chemical physics : PCCP},
  number    = {16},
  issn      = {1463-9076},
  doi       = {10.1039/c4cp03301a},
  pages     = {23157 -- 23163},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Picosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is used to investigate the electronic and structural dynamics initiated by plasmon excitation of 1.8 nm diameter Au nanoparticles (NPs) functionalised with 1-hexanethiol. We show that 100 ps after photoexcitation the transient XAS spectrum is consistent with an 8\% expansion of the Au-Au bond length and a large increase in disorder associated with melting of the NPs. Recovery of the ground state occurs with a time constant of ∼1.8 ns, arising from thermalisation with the environment. Simulations reveal that the transient spectrum exhibits no signature of charge separation at 100 ps and allows us to estimate an upper limit for the quantum yield (QY) of this process to be <0.1.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KrivenkovGoliasMarchenkoetal.2017,
  author    = {Krivenkov, Maxim and Golias, Evangelos and Marchenko, Dmitry and Sanchez-Barriga, Jaime and Bihlmayer, Gustav and Rader, Oliver and Varykhalov, Andrei},
  title     = {Nanostructural origin of giant Rashba effect in intercalated graphene},
  series = {2D Materials},
  volume    = {4},
  journal   = {2D Materials},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.},
  address   = {Bristol},
  issn      = {2053-1583},
  doi       = {10.1088/2053-1583/aa7ad8},
  pages     = {11},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {To enhance the spin-orbit interaction in graphene by a proximity effect without compromising the quasi-free-standing dispersion of the Dirac cones means balancing the opposing demands for strong and weak graphene-substrate interaction. So far, only the intercalation of Au under graphene/Ni(111) has proven successful, which was unexpected since graphene prefers a large separation (similar to 3.3 angstrom) from a Au monolayer in equilibrium. Here, we investigate this system and find the solution in a nanoscale effect. We reveal that the Au largely intercalates as nanoclusters. Our density functional theory calculations show that the graphene is periodically stapled to the Ni substrate, and this attraction presses graphene and Au nanoclusters together. This, in turn, causes a Rashba effect of the giant magnitude observed in experiment. Our findings show that nanopatterning of the substrate can be efficiently used for engineering of spin-orbit effects in graphene.},
  language  = {en}
}