Photoconductive metamaterials with giant plasmonic photogalvanic effect

Photoelectric properties of metamaterials comprising oriented noncentrosymmetric metallic nanoparticle arrays in a homogeneous semiconductor matrix are theoretically studied. When uniformly illuminated by a plane wave, the asymmetric shape of the nanoparticles results in electro-motive force and photocurrent without any external potential.

This is the direct analogue of the photogalvanic effect existing in ferroelectric or piezoelectric crystals, e.g., bismuth ferrite. The reported plasmonic photogalvanic effect is valuable for characterizing photoconductive properties of plasmonic nanostructures, for photodetection, and for photovoltaics.