Surface-enhanced Raman scattering in insulating materials by artificial plasmon production: Application to uranium compounds

The concept of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is reviewed. The currently held position within the spectroscopic community is that the enormous SERS enhancement effect, sometimes as much as fourteen orders of magnitude, can be partially related to surface roughness but mostly to surface plasmons (polaritons). The plasmon states are absent in electrical insulators, thus precluding the applicability of the powerful SERS technique in analysing the surface conditions of these materials. This communication describes a technique for extending the SERS process to materials that have little or no intrinsic electrical conductivity.