From near-field to far-field coupling in the third dimension: retarded interaction of particle plasmons

Electromagnetically Induced Absorption Overcomes the Upper Limit of Light Absorption: Dipole-Dipole Coupling with Phase Retardation in Plasmonic-Dielectric Dimers

Electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) by a phase-retarded coupling is theoretically investigated using a dimer composed of a plasmonic and dielectric particle. This phase-retarded coupling originates from the particles interacting with each other through their scattered intermediate fields (in between near and far fields). Our analysis based on the coupled-dipole method and an extended coupled-oscillator model indicates that EIA by the phase-retarded coupling occurs due to constructive interference in the scattered fields of the particles. By employing the finite element method, we demonstrate that the absorption of the plasmonic particle is dramatically enhanced by tuning the interparticle distance and achieving constructive interference. In contrast to EIA by near-field coupling, which has been intensively researched using coupled plasmonic systems, EIA by a phase-retarded coupling enables us to strengthen the absorption of plasmonic systems more significantly. This significant absorption enhancement is expected to be beneficial to advancing various applications, such as energy harvesting and radiative cooling.

Tailoring Iridescent Visual Appearance with Disordered Resonant Metasurfaces

The nanostructures of natural species offer beautiful visual appearances with saturated and iridescent colors, and the question arises whether we can reproduce or even create unique appearances with man-made metasurfaces. However, harnessing the specular and diffuse light scattered by disordered metasurfaces to create attractive and prescribed visual effects is currently inaccessible. Here, we present an interpretive, intuitive, and accurate modal-based tool that unveils the main physical mechanisms and features defining the appearance of colloidal disordered monolayers of resonant meta-atoms deposited on a reflective substrate. The model shows that the combination of plasmonic and Fabry-Perot resonances offers uncommon iridescent visual appearances, differing from those classically observed with natural nanostructures or thin-film interferences. We highlight an unusual visual effect exhibiting only two distinct colors and theoretically investigate its origin. The approach can be useful in the design of visual appearance with easy-to-make and universal building blocks having a large resilience to fabrication imperfections and potential for innovative coatings and fine-art applications.

Tunable Fabry-Pérot Resonator with Dynamic Structural Color: A Visual and Ultrasensitive Hydrogen Sensor

Hydrogen detection is crucial for the forthcoming hydrogen economy. Here, we present a visual, ultrasensitive, optical hydrogen sensor based on a tunable Fabry-Pérot (FP) resonator, which can fully release the volume expansion of palladium during hydrogenation and transfer this volume expansion into an optical signal. The FP resonator consists of a suspended polymethylmethacrylate/palladium (PMMA/Pd) bilayer on a gold (Au) square-hole array. The bottom of the gold square hole and hydrogen-sensitive PMMA/Pd bilayer form a dynamically tunable FP resonator. When hydrogen gas (H₂) is loaded, the hydrogen-induced lateral expanding stress concavely deforms the suspended bilayer downward to the substrate, narrowing the metal-air-metal gap at the center of the hole, and finally leading to a spectral blue shift. Our experimental results show a giant spectral shift of 279 nm with a reflectance variation of 57% on exposure to 0.6% H₂ mixed with air. Such an ultrahigh optical response results in a significant color change, enabling visual hydrogen detection. In addition, the sensor has a H₂ detection limit down to 0.1% and good recyclability. These advantages indicate that the sensor has excellent potential for hydrogen sensing applications.

Switchable Plasmonic Chirality for Light Modulation: From Near-Field to Far-Field Coupling

This paper describes a quasi-planar chiral metamaterial of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) tetramer arrays that support multiplasmon modes from a hybridization scheme to achieve significant chiroptical responses with the largest circular dichroism (CD) value of 42%. The chiroptical responses can be actively switched on and off by tuning the field coupling regime from near field to far field through the insulator (or spacer) thickness. Numerical calculations demonstrate that near-field coupling of the hybridized plasmons on the stacked metallic tetramers governs the chiroptical responses at small insulator thickness (t_SiO2 < 160 nm). In contrast, far-field coupling of the plasmon radiations dominates at large spacing (t_SiO2 > 160 nm) as phase retardation plays a crucial role. The quasi-planar chiral metamaterial with tunable plasmonic chirality enables efficient light modulation for polarization conversion: from circular to elliptical/linear polarization.

Active Plasmonics and Active Chiral Plasmonics through Orientation-Dependent Multipolar Interactions

While most active plasmonic efforts focus on responsive metamaterials to modulate optical response, we present a simple alternative based on applied orientation control that can likely be implemented for many passive plasmonic materials. Passive plasmonic motifs are simpler to prepare but cannot be altered postfabrication. We show that such systems can be easily manipulated through substrate orientation control to generate both active plasmonic and active chiral plasmonic responses. Using gold nanocrescents as our model platform, we demonstrate tuning of optical extinction from -21% to +36% at oblique incidence relative to normal incidence. Variation of substrate orientation in relation to incident polarization is also demonstrated to controllably switch chiroptical handedness (e.g., Δg = ± 0.55). These active plasmonic responses arise from the multipolar character of resonant modes. In particular, we correlate magnetoelectric and dipole-quadrupole polarizabilities with different light-matter orientation-dependence in both near- and far-field localized surface plasmon activity. Additionally, the attribution of far-field optical response to higher-order multipoles highlights the sensitivity offered by these orientation-dependent characterization techniques to probe the influence of localized electromagnetic field gradients on a plasmonic response. The sensitivity afforded by orientation-dependent optical characterization is further observed by the manifestation in both plasmon and chiral plasmon responses of unpredicted structural nanocrescent variance (e.g., left- and right-tip asymmetry) not physically resolved through topographical imaging.

Terahertz composite plasmonic slabs based on double-layer metallic gratings

One composite plasmonic slab with a broad bandgap (40%) is experimentally and numerically demonstrated in the terahertz (THz) region. The composite slab consists of double-layer metallic gratings and a dielectric film, which supports two resonant modes. Electric field vectors and charge distributions proved that the low-frequency resonant mode originates from the symmetric plasmonic mode, while the high-frequency resonant mode is induced by the hybrid mode of plasmonic and dielectric modes. Compared with the double-layer metallic grating, the inserted dielectric film significantly enhances the transmission of the transverse magnetic (TM) waves and induces Fano resonances. The near-field coupling between metal gratings and dielectric film can be manipulated by changing the thickness and the refractive index of dielectric films. We further demonstrated that the plasmonic bandgap can be manipulated by tuning the grating width. These results suggest that this composite plasmonic slab is promising in terahertz integrated components development such as a filter, polarizer, or sensor.

Design Principles for Sensitivity Optimization in Plasmonic Hydrogen Sensors

Palladium nanoparticles have proven to be exceptionally suitable materials for the optical detection of hydrogen gas due to the dielectric function that changes with the hydrogen concentration. The development of a reliable, low-cost, and widely applicable hydrogen detector requires a simple optical readout mechanism and an optimization of the lowest detectable hydrogen concentration. The so-called "perfect absorber"-type structures, consisting of a layer of plasmonic palladium nanoantennas suspended above a metallic mirror layer, are a promising approach to realizing such sensors. The absorption of hydrogen by palladium leads to a shift of the plasmon resonance and, thus, to a change in the far-field reflectance spectrum. The spectral change can be analyzed in detail using spectroscopic measurements, while the reflectance change at a specific wavelength can be detected with a simple photometric system of a photodiode and a monochromatic light source. Here, we systematically investigate the geometry of cavity-coupled palladium nanostructures as well as the optical system concept, which enables us to formulate a set of design rules for optimizing the hydrogen sensitivity. Employing these principles, we demonstrate the robust detection of hydrogen at concentrations down to 100 ppm. Our results are not limited to hydrogen sensing but can be applied to any type of plasmonic sensor.

Three-dimensional cavity-coupled metamaterials for plasmonic color and real-time colorimetric biosensors

Plasmonic structure color has significant potential for visual biochemical sensing by simple instrumentation or even naked eye detection. Herein, we present a visual and real-time sensing strategy for refraction index sensing and detection of the biotin-avidin system based on three-dimensional cavity-coupled metamaterials. These metamaterials composed of a top array of gold disks, aluminium pillars and a bottom reflection film of aluminium have structures similar to the metal-insulator-metal structure. The insulating layer comprises air-gap cavities that are easily filled with gaseous or liquid dielectrics. Therefore, analytes can permeate into the nano-scale cavities and produce strong light-matter interactions. The sensor shows that any tiny change in the refraction index will induce a significant color variation and the sensitivity reaches 683.5 nm per refraction index unit with a figure of merit of 3.5. The color of the metamaterials changes from rose-red to violet and then loden after a monomolecular layer of thiolated biotin and streptavidin bind to the surface of the nanostructure successively. This sensing strategy offers new opportunities for the convenient detection of proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids.

Mueller matrix study of the dichroism in nanorods dimers: rod separation effects

We have studied the optical response of chiral metastructures composed of a disordered array of couples of plasmonic Au nanorods helically piled along the vertical direction. The fabrication is based on the use of multiaxial and multimaterial evaporation of the different metastructure building blocks through nanohole masks. From the analysis of the Mueller Matrix elements of the system, obtained both experimentally and from dedicated numerical simulations in forward and backward illumination conditions, we have been able to determine the linear and circular dichroic response of the system, as well as to sort out the optical anisotropy and intrinsic circular dichroism contributions to the circular differential extinction. We have also analyzed the dependence of the optical properties as a function of the angle between the rods and of the thickness of the dielectric separator. The study of quasi-planar as well as three-dimensional structures allows unraveling the role played by interactions between the constituting building blocks and, in particular, the distance between rods. We have experimentally and theoretically observed a decrease of the circular dichroic contribution and a change of the optical anisotropic contribution when the structures evolve from non-planar to planar.

Plasmonic Surface Lattice Resonances: A Review of Properties and Applications

When metal nanoparticles are arranged in an ordered array, they may scatter light to produce diffracted waves. If one of the diffracted waves then propagates in the plane of the array, it may couple the localized plasmon resonances associated with individual nanoparticles together, leading to an exciting phenomenon, the drastic narrowing of plasmon resonances, down to 1–2 nm in spectral width. This presents a dramatic improvement compared to a typical single particle resonance line width of >80 nm. The very high quality factors of these diffractively coupled plasmon resonances, often referred to as plasmonic surface lattice resonances, and related effects have made this topic a very active and exciting field for fundamental research, and increasingly, these resonances have been investigated for their potential in the development of practical devices for communications, optoelectronics, photovoltaics, data storage, biosensing, and other applications. In the present review article, we describe the basic physical principles and properties of plasmonic surface lattice resonances: the width and quality of the resonances, singularities of the light phase, electric field enhancement, etc. We pay special attention to the conditions of their excitation in different experimental architectures by considering the following: in-plane and out-of-plane polarizations of the incident light, symmetric and asymmetric optical (refractive index) environments, the presence of substrate conductivity, and the presence of an active or magnetic medium. Finally, we review recent progress in applications of plasmonic surface lattice resonances in various fields.

Coupling effects in 3D plasmonic structures templated by Morpho butterfly wings

This paper presents the study of the coupling effects of three dimensional (3D) plasmonic nanostructures templated by Morpho butterfly wings. Different from the random deposition of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) or conformal coating of metallic layers on butterfly wings reported previously, the 3D plasmonic nanostructures studied in this work consist of gold (Au) nanostrips quasi-periodically arranged in 3D, which allows us to investigate the plasmonic coupling effects. Through refractive index (RI) matching, the plasmonic coupling can be differentiated from the optical contribution of butterfly wings. By tuning the deposition thickness of Au from 30 to 90 nm, the plasmonic coupling effects between the 3D Au nanostrips are gradually enhanced. In particular, the near-field coupling results in two resonant modes and enhances the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signals.

Hybridized metamaterial platform for nano-scale sensing

Plasmonic/metamaterial sensors are being investigated for their high sensitivity, fast response time, and high accuracy. We propose, characterize and experimentally realize subwavelength bilayer metamaterial sensors operating in the near-infrared domain. We measure the figure-of-merit (FOM) and the bulk sensitivity (S) of the two fundamental hybridized modes and demonstrate both numerically and experimentally that the magnetic dipolar mode, degenerate with the electric quadrupolar mode, has higher sensitivity to a variation of the refractive index compared to the electric dipolar mode. In addition, the hybridized system exhibits a four fold increase in the FOM compared to a standard dipolar plasmonic system.

Highly controllable double Fano resonances in plasmonic metasurfaces

Creating plasmonic nanostructures with controllable Fano resonances is of great interest for a number of important applications including metamaterials and biosensors. Realizing double Fano resonances is even more challenging but may become favorable to the applications such as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and second harmonic generation (SHG). Here we have developed plasmonic metasurfaces consisting of a nanoring array and a metallic film separated by a dielectric spacer for the generation of double Fano resonances. The double Fano resonances are realized by the strong plasmonic coupling between the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) mode of the nanoring array and the cavity modes of the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure, and consequently exhibit large electric field enhancements at double frequencies. The resonance wavelength, the linewidth and the wavelength separation of double Fano resonances can be well tailored by changing the cavity length of the structure and the parameters of the top array pattern including the diameter, periodicity, and shape. In addition, we develop a far-field coupling model to efficiently determine the cavity length of metasurface structures with double Fano resonances at specific wavelengths with much ease and acceptable accuracy compared to the time-consuming and computing resource-needed numerical simulations.

Double-layered metal grating for high-performance refractive index sensing

The detection of minuscule changes in the local refractive index by localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs), carried by metal nanostructures, has been used successfully in applications such as real-time and label-free detection of molecular binding events. However, localized plasmons demonstrate 1-2 orders of magnitude lower figure of merit (FOM) compared with their propagating counterparts. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a high-performance refractive index sensor based on a structure of double-layered metal grating (DMG) with an FOM and FOM* reaching 38 and 40 respectively under normal incidence. Such a high FOM and FOM* arise from a result of a sharp fano resonance, which is caused by the coherent interference between the LSPR from the individual top gold stripes and Wood's anomaly (WA). Moreover, a small conformal decay length of ~68 nm is determined in DMG, indicating that the DMG is a promising candidate for label-free biomedical sensing.

Heteroplasmon hybridization in stacked complementary plasmo-photonic crystals

We constructed plasmo-photonic crystals in which efficient light-trapping, plasmonic resonances couple with photonic guided resonances of large density of states and high-quality factor. We have numerically and experimentally shown that heteroplasmon hybrid modes emerge in stacked complementary (SC) plasmo-photonic crystals. The resonant electromagnetic-field distributions evidence that the two hybrid modes originate from two different heteroplasmons, exhibiting a large energy splitting of 300 meV. We further revealed a series of plasmo-photonic modes in the SC crystals.

Dislocated double-layer metal gratings: an efficient unidirectional coupler

We propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally a dislocated double-layer metal grating structure, which operates as a unidirectional coupler capable of launching surface plasmon polaritons in a desired direction under normal illumination. The structure consists of a slanted dielectric grating sandwiched between two gold gratings. The upper gold grating has a nonzero lateral relative displacement with respect to the lower one. Numerical simulations show that a grating structure with 7 periods can convert 49% of normally incident light into surface plasmons with a contrast ratio of 78 between the powers of the surface plasmons launched in two opposite directions. We explain the unidirectional coupling phenomenon by the dislocation-induced interference of the diffracted waves from the upper and lower gold gratings. Furthermore, we developed a simple and cost-effective technique to fabricate the structure via tilted two-beam interference lithography and subsequent shadow deposition of gold. The experimental results demonstrate a coupling efficiency of 36% and a contrast ratio of 43. The relatively simple periodic nature of our structure lends itself to large-scale low-cost fabrication and simple theoretical analysis. Also, unlike the previous unidirectional couplers based on aperiodic structures, the design parameters of our unidirectional coupler can be determined analytically. Therefore, this structure can be an important component for surface-plasmon-based nanophotonic circuits by providing an efficient interface between free-space and surface plasmon waves.

Beyond the hybridization effects in plasmonic nanoclusters: diffraction-induced enhanced absorption and scattering

It is demonstrated herein both theoretically and experimentally that Young's interference can be observed in plasmonic structures when two or three nanoparticles with separation on the order of the wavelength are illuminated simultaneously by a plane wave. This effect leads to the formation of intermediate-field hybridized modes with a character distinct of those mediated by near-field and/or far-field radiative effects. The physical mechanism for the enhancement of absorption and scattering of light due to plasmonic Young's interference is revealed, which we explain through a redistribution of the Poynting vector field and the formation of near-field subwavelength optical vortices.

Tailoring magnetic dipole emission with plasmonic split-ring resonators

We numerically explore the emission behavior of magnetic dipole emitters located next to resonant plasmonic split-ring resonators (SRRs), which are well known for their large magnetic moment at their fundamental resonance in the near infrared. Our results are compared to the situation for electric dipole emitters, where the SRR can be described by solely its electric dipole moment. We show that a similar approach in the case of magnetic dipole emitters is not sufficient, as the symmetry breaking due to the gap has to be taken into account. We demonstrate how retardation between the emitter and the SRR can be used as an additional degree of freedom to manipulate the emission spectrum. Our concept will pave the road towards efficient plasmonic antennas for magnetic dipole emitters.

The role of magnetic dipoles and non-zero-order Bragg waves in metamaterial perfect absorbers

We develop a simple treatment of a metamaterial perfect absorber (MPA) based on grating theory. We analytically prove that the condition of MPA requires the existence of two currents, which are nearly out of phase and have almost identical amplitude, akin to a magnetic dipole. Furthermore, we show that non-zero-order Bragg modes within the MPA may consume electromagnetic energy significantly.

Interpreting chiral nanophotonic spectra: the plasmonic Born-Kuhn model

One of the most intuitive ways to classically understand the generation of natural optical activity in chiral media is provided by the coupled oscillator model of Born and Kuhn consisting of two identical, vertically displaced, coupled oscillators. We experimentally realize and discuss its exact plasmonic analog in a system of corner-stacked gold nanorods. In particular, we analyze the arising circular dichroism and optical rotatory spectra in terms of hybridized electromagnetic modes and retardation. Specifically, we demonstrate how tuning the vertical distance between the nanorods can lead to a selective excitation of the occurring bonding and antibonding chiral plasmonic modes.

Classical analog of electromagnetically induced absorption in plasmonics

The ability to manipulate the phase shift between two resonantly coupled plasmonic oscillators in a controlled fashion has been unavailable up to now. Here we present a strategy to overcome this limitation by employing the benefits of near-field coupling on the one hand and retardation effects due to far-field coupling on the other hand. We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that in the intermediate regime the coupling of a broad dipolar to a narrow dark quadrupolar plasmon resonance is possible while simultaneously allowing for a retardation-induced phase shift. This leads to constructive interference and enhanced absorption. The observed phenomenon can thus be termed a classical analog of electromagnetically induced absorption.

Octave-wide photonic band gap in three-dimensional plasmonic Bragg structures and limitations of radiative coupling

Radiative coupling between oscillators is one of the most fundamental subjects of research in optics, where particularly a Bragg-type arrangement is of interest and has already been applied to atoms and excitons in quantum wells. Here we explore this arrangement in a plasmonic structure. We observe the emergence of an octave-wide photonic band gap in the optical regime. Compared with atomic or excitonic systems, the coupling efficiency of the particle plasmons utilized here is several orders of magnitude larger and widely tunable by changing the size and geometry of the plasmonic nanowires. We are thus able to explore the regime where the coupling distance is even limited by the large radiative decay rate of the oscillators. This Bragg-stacked coupling scheme will open a new route for future plasmonic applications such as far-field coupling to quantum emitters without quenching, plasmonic cavity structures and plasmonic distributed gain schemes for spasers.

Genuine effectively biaxial left-handed metamaterials due to extreme coupling

Most left-handed metamaterials cannot be described by local effective permittivity or permeability tensors in the visible or near-infrared due to the mesoscopic size of the respective unit cells and the related strong spatial dispersion. We lift this problem and propose a metamaterial exhibiting artificial magnetism that does not suffer from this restriction. The artificial magnetism arises from the extreme coupling between both metallic films forming the unit cell. We show that its electromagnetic response can be properly described by biaxial local constitutive relations. A genuine biaxial left-handed fishnet metamaterial is suggested, which can be realized by atomic layer deposition to fabricate the nanoscaled spacing layers required for extreme coupling.