T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h G r a d u a t e S c h o o l STATEMENT OF THESIS APPROVAL The thesis of Cara M. Barnes has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Jennifer Shumaker-Parry , Chair ABSTRACT Plasmonic nanocrescents have been of interest due to their unique optical properties and relative ease of fabrication, as well as their potential applications in surface enhanced spectroscopies. In order to engineer nanocrescents as optimized substrates for these

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... cations, a good understanding of the nanostructureoptical response relationship is necessary. This thesis research focused on understanding the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) wavelength dependence on nanocrescent structural details, such as backbone width, arrayed assemblies, and size. The work presented here shows that the LSPR wavelength can be tuned through a wide spectral region through control of the physical structure of the nanocrescent. This thesis research also focused on understanding the polarization-dependent near-field distribution of the various plasmon resonance modes that arise due to structural asymmetry. The near-field distributions for the short-and long-axis dipoles were mapped through enhanced, localized photopolymerization of photoresist.