I. Geology of the Southwest quarter of the Elsinore Quadrangle. II. Geochemical properties of the waters of the Elsinore Quadrangle [= Geology of the Lake Elsinore Quadrangle, California. Mineral deposits of Lake Elsinore Quadrangle, California]

The Lake Elsinore quadrangle covers about 250 square miles and includes parts of the southwest margin of the Perris Block, the Elsinore trough, the southeastern end of the Santa Ana Mountains, and the Elsinore Mountains.

The oldest rocks consist of an assemblage of metamorphics of igneous effusive and sedimentary origin, probably, for the most part, of Triassic age. They are intruded by diorite and various hypabyssal rocks, then in turn by granitic rocks, which occupy over 40 percent of the area. Following this last igneous activity of probable Lower Cretaceous age, an extended period of sedimentation started with the deposition of the marine Upper Cretaceous Chico formation and continued during the Paloecene under alternating marine and continental conditions on the margins of the blocks. A marine regression towards the north, during the Neocene, accounts for the younger Tertiary strata in the region under consideration.

Outpouring of basalts to the southeast indicates that igneous activity was resumed toward the close of the Tertiary. The fault zone, which characterizes the Elsinor trough, marks one of the major tectonic lines of southem California. It separates the upthrown and tilted block of the Santa Ana Mountains to the south from the Perris Block to the north.

Most of the faults are normal in type and nearly parallel to the general trend of the trough, or intersect each other at an acute angle. Vertical displacements generally exceed the horizontal ones and several periods of activity are recognized.

Tilting of Tertiary and older Quaternary sediments in the trough have produced broad synclinal structures which have been modified by subsequent faulting.

Five old surfaces of erosion are exposed on the highlands.

The mineral resources of the region are mainly high-grade clay deposits and mineral waters.

Classical and Quantum Effects in Plasmonic Metals

The field of plasmonics exploits the unique optical properties of metallic nanostructures to concentrate and manipulate light at subwavelength length scales. Metallic nanostructures get their unique properties from their ability to support surface plasmons– coherent wave-like oscillations of the free electrons at the interface between a conductive and dielectric medium. Recent advancements in the ability to fabricate metallic nanostructures with subwavelength length scales have created new possibilities in technology and research in a broad range of applications.

In the first part of this thesis, we present two investigations of the relationship between the charge state and optical state of plasmonic metal nanoparticles. Using experimental bias-dependent extinction measurements, we derive a potential- dependent dielectric function for Au nanoparticles that accounts for changes in the physical properties due to an applied bias that contribute to the optical extinction. We also present theory and experiment for the reverse effect– the manipulation of the carrier density of Au nanoparticles via controlled optical excitation. This plasmoelectric effect takes advantage of the strong resonant properties of plasmonic materials and the relationship between charge state and optical properties to eluci- date a new avenue for conversion of optical power to electrical potential.

The second topic of this thesis is the non-radiative decay of plasmons to a hot-carrier distribution, and the distribution’s subsequent relaxation. We present first-principles calculations that capture all of the significant microscopic mechanisms underlying surface plasmon decay and predict the initial excited carrier distributions so generated. We also preform ab initio calculations of the electron-temperature dependent heat capacities and electron-phonon coupling coefficients of plasmonic metals. We extend these first-principle methods to calculate the electron-temperature dependent dielectric response of hot electrons in plasmonic metals, including direct interband and phonon-assisted intraband transitions. Finally, we combine these first-principles calculations of carrier dynamics and optical response to produce a complete theoretical description of ultrafast pump-probe measurements, free of any fitting parameters that are typical in previous analyses.