The surface plasmon effect of metal nanoparticles is due to collective oscillations of free electrons when they are excited at resonant frequencies. It does not stem from quantum effects, but can be explained with classical electromagnetism as described by Maxwell's equation. The size of metal nanoparticles that show surface plasmon resonances is too large to give rise to significant effects from quantum confinement of electronic wavefunctions.

Marc Achermann - 13.05.11

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