First-principles absorption spectra of Cu_n (n=2-20) clusters

Optical absorption spectra for the computed ground state structures of copper clusters (Cu_n, n=2-20) are investigated from first principles using time-dependent density functional theory in the adiabatic local density approximation (TDLDA). The results are compared with available experimental data, existing calculations, and with results from our previous computations on silver and gold clusters. The main effects of d electrons on the absorption spectra, quenching the oscillator strengths, and getting directly involved in low-energy excitations increase in going from Ag_n to Au_n to Cu_n due to the increase in the hybridization of the occupied, yet shallow, d orbitals and the partially occupied s orbitals. We predict that while Cu nanoparticles of spherical or moderately ellipsoidal shape do not exhibit Mie (surface plasmon) resonances, unlike the case for Ag and Au, extremely prolate or oblate Cu nanoparticles with eccentricities near unity should give rise to Mie resonances in the lower end of the visible range and in the infrared. This tunable resonance predicted by the classical Mie-Gans theory is reproduced with remarkable accuracy by our TDLDA computations on hypothetical Cu clusters in the form of zigzag chains with as few as 6 to 20 atoms.