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Scalable and controlled self-assembly of aluminum-based random plasmonic metasurfaces.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Siddique, Radwanul Hasan  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7494-5857
Mertens, Jan 
Hölscher, Hendrik 
Vignolini, Silvia 

Abstract

Subwavelength metal-dielectric plasmonic metasurfaces enable light management beyond the diffraction limit. However, a cost-effective and reliable fabrication method for such structures remains a major challenge hindering their full exploitation. Here, we propose a simple yet powerful manufacturing route for plasmonic metasurfaces based on a bottom-up approach. The fabricated metasurfaces consist of a dense distribution of randomly oriented nanoscale scatterers composed of aluminum (Al) nanohole-disk pairs, which exhibit angle-independent scattering that is tunable across the entire visible spectrum. The macroscopic response of the metasurfaces is controlled via the properties of an isolated Al nanohole-disk pair at the nanoscale. In addition, the optical field confinement at the scatterers and their random distribution of sizes result in a strongly enhanced Raman signal that enables broadly tunable excitation using a single substrate. This unique combination of a reliable and lithography-free methodology with the use of aluminum permits the exploitation of the full potential of random plasmonic metasurfaces for diagnostics and coloration.

Description

Keywords

SERS, aluminum plasmonics, plasmonic metasurfaces, polymer blends, self-assembly, structural color

Journal Title

Light Sci Appl

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2095-5545
2047-7538

Volume Title

6

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/G060649/1)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/K014617/1)
European Research Council (639088)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L027151/1)
We thank M. Heiler (KIT) for metal evaporation and G. Kamita (University of Cambridge) for the help in optical measurement. Furthermore, we acknowledge fruitful discussions with all members of the Biomimetics group at KIT and Bio-inspired photonics group at University of Cambridge. R.H.S acknowledges the funding by the Karlsruhe House of Young Scientists for a research stay at Cambridge. This work was partly carried out with the support of the Karlsruhe School of Optics and Photonics (KSOP, www.ksop.idschools.kit.edu) and the Karlsruhe Nano Micro Facility (KNMF, www.kit.edu/knmf), a Helmholtz Research Infrastructure at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, www.kit.edu). S.V. acknowledges the BBSRC David Phillips fellowship [BB/K014617/1] and the ERC-2014-STG H2020 639088, and J.M. acknowledges the EPSRC [EP/G060649/1].