Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
Arrays of 10 to 120 nm diameter single crystalline bismuth nanowires havebeen formed inside amorphous alumina templates. ince bismuth has a small e ective mass compared to other materials, signi cant quantum mechanical con nement is expected to occur in wires with diameter less than 50nm. he subbands formed b yquantum con nement cause in teresting modi cations to the dielectric function of bismuth. his study measures the dielectric function of bismuth nanowires in an energy range where the e ects of quantum con nement are predicted (0.05 to 0.5e). Using F ourier transforminfrared re ectometry, the dielectric constant as a function of energy is obtained for the alumina/bismuth composite system. E ective medium theory is used to subtract the e ect of the alumina template from the measurement of the composite material, thus yielding the dielectric function of bismuth nanowires. A strong absorption peak is observed at ∼1000cm−1 in the frequency dependent dielectric function in the photon energy range measured. he dependence of the frequency and intensity of this oscillator on incident light polarization and wire diameter are reviewed. n addition, the dependence of the optical absorption on antimony and tellurium doping of the nanowires are reported.