Monochromated, spatially resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopic measurements of gold nanoparticles in the plasmon range.

Gold nanoparticles show optical properties different from bulk material due to resonance phenomena which depend on local structure and geometry. Electron energy-loss spectrometry (EELS) in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) allows the spatially resolved measurement of these properties at a resolution of few nanometers. In this work, the first monochromated measurements of gold nanoparticles (spheres, rods and triangles) are presented. Due to the improved energy resolution of about 0.2 eV, surface plasmon excitations at energies below 1 eV could be accurately measured from raw experimental data.