Enhancing intensity and refractive index sensing capability with infrared plasmonic perfect absorbers

The Enzymatic Doped/Undoped Poly-Silicon Nanowire Sensor for Glucose Concentration Measurement

In this work, enzymatic doped/undoped poly-silicon nanowire sensors with different lengths were fabricated using a top-down technique to measure glucose concentration. The sensitivity and resolution of these sensors correlate well with the dopant property and length of nanowire. Experimental results indicate that the resolution is proportional to the nanowire length and dopant concentration. However, the sensitivity is inversely proportional to the nanowire length. The optimum resolution can be better than 0.02 mg/dL for a doped type sensor with length of 3.5 μm. Furthermore, the proposed sensor was demonstrated for 30 applications with similar current-time response and showed good repeatability.

Multi-octave metasurface-based refractory superabsorber enhanced by a tapered unit-cell structure

An ultra-broadband metasurface-based perfect absorber is proposed based on a periodic array of truncated cone-shaped \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\text {TiO}_2$$\end{document}TiO2 surrounded by TiN/\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\text {TiO}_2$$\end{document}TiO2 conical rings. Due to the refractory materials involved in the metasurface, the given structure can keep its structural stability at high temperatures. The proposed structure can achieve a broadband spectrum of 4.3 µm at normal incidence spanning in the range of 0.2–4.5 µm with the absorption higher than \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$90\%$$\end{document}90% and the average absorption around \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$94.71\%$$\end{document}94.71%. The absorption can be tuned through the angle of the cone. By optimizing geometrical parameters, a super absorption is triggered in the range of 0.2–3.25 µm with the absorption higher than 97.40\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\%$$\end{document}% and substantially average absorption over 99\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\%$$\end{document}%. In this regard, the proposed structure can gather more than \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$99\%$$\end{document}99% of the full spectrum of solar radiation. Furthermore, the absorption of the designed structure is almost insensitive to the launching angle up to \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$50^\circ $$\end{document}50∘ for TE polarization, while it has a weak dependence on the incident angle for TM polarization. The proposed structure can be a promising candidate for thermal energy harvesting and solar absorption applications.

Biosensing on a Plasmonic Dual-Band Perfect Absorber Using Intersection Nanostructure

Optical absorbers with multiple absorption channels are required in integrated optical circuits and have always been a challenge in visible and near-infrared (NIR) region. This paper proposes a perfect plasmonic absorber (PPA) that consists of a closed loop and a linked intersection in a unit cell for sensitive biosensing applications. We elucidate the physical nature of finite element method simulations through the absorptance spectrum, electric field intensity, magnetic flux density, and surface charge distribution. The designed PPA achieves triple channels, and the recorded dual-band absorptance reaches 99.64 and 99.00% nm, respectively. Besides, the sensitivity can get 1000.00 and 650 nm/RIU for mode 1 and mode 2, respectively. Our design has a strong electric and magnetic field coupling arising from the mutual inductance and the capacitive coupling in the proposed plasmonic system. Therefore, the designed structure can serve as a promising option for biosensors and other optical devices. Here, we illustrated two examples, i.e., detecting cancerous cells and diabetes cells.

Ultra-Narrow SPP Generation from Ag Grating

In this study, we investigate the potential of one-dimensional plasmonic grating structures to serve as a platform for, e.g., sensitive refractive index sensing. This is achieved by comparing numerical simulations to experimental results with respect to the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in the mid-infrared region. The samples, silver-coated poly-silicon gratings, cover different grating depths in the range of 50 nm-375 nm. This variation of the depth, at a fixed grating geometry, allows the active tuning of the bandwidth of the SPP resonance according to the requirements of particular applications. The experimental setup employs a tunable quantum cascade laser (QCL) and allows the retrieval of angle-resolved experimental wavelength spectra to characterize the wavelength and angle dependence of the SPP resonance of the specular reflectance. The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulations. As a tendency, shallower gratings reveal narrower SPP resonances in reflection. In particular, we report on 2.9 nm full width at half maximum (FWHM) at a wavelength of 4.12 µm and a signal attenuation of 21%. According to a numerical investigation with respect to a change of the refractive index of the dielectric above the grating structure, a spectral shift of 4122nmRIU can be expected, which translates to a figure of merit (FOM) of about 1421 RIU-1. The fabrication of the suggested structures is performed on eight-inch silicon substrates, entirely accomplished within an industrial fabrication environment using standard microfabrication processes. This in turn represents a decisive step towards plasmonic sensor technologies suitable for semiconductor mass-production.

Infrared Plasmonic Biosensor with Tetrahedral DNA Nanostructure as Carriers for Label-Free and Ultrasensitive Detection of miR-155

MicroRNAs play an important role in early development, cell proliferation, apoptosis, and cell death, and are aberrantly expressed in many types of cancers. To understand their function and diagnose cancer at an early stage, it is crucial to quantitatively detect microRNA without invasive labels. Here, a plasmonic biosensor based on surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) for rapid, label-free, and ultrasensitive detection of miR-155 is reported. This technology leverages metamaterial perfect absorbers stimulating the SEIRA effect to provide up to 1000-fold near-field intensity enhancement over the microRNA fingerprint spectral bands. Additionally, it is discovered that the limit of detection (LOD) of the biosensor can be greatly improved by using tetrahedral DNA nanostructure (TDN) as carriers. By using near-field enhancement of SEIRA and specific binding of TDN, the biosensor achieves label-free detection of miR-155 with a high sensitivity of 1.162% pm^-1 and an excellent LOD of 100 × 10^-15 m. The LOD is about 5000 times lower than that using DNA single strand as probes and about 100 times lower than that of the fluorescence detection method. This work can not only provide a powerful diagnosis tool for the microRNAs detection but also gain new insights into the field of label-free and ultrasensitive SEIRA-based biosensing.

Enhancement of refractive index sensing for an infrared plasmonic metamaterial absorber with a nanogap

An infrared plasmonic metamaterial absorber with a nanogap was numerically and experimentally investigated as a refractive index sensor. We experimentally demonstrated large enhancements of both sensitivity (approximately 1091 nm/refractive index unit) and figure of merit (FOM*; approximately 273) owing to the nanogap formation in the metamaterial absorber to achieve perfect absorption (99%). The refractive index sensing platform was fabricated by producible nanoimprint lithography and isotropic dry etching processes to have a large area and low cost while providing a practical solution for high-performance plasmonic biosensors.

Dynamically Switchable Polarization-Independent Triple-Band Perfect Metamaterial Absorber Using a Phase-Change Material in the Mid-Infrared (MIR) Region

A tunable metamaterial absorber (MMA) by reversible phase transitions in a mid-infrared regime is theoretically investigated. The absorber is composed of a molybdenum (Mo)-germanium-antimony-tellurium (Ge₂Sb₂Te₅, GST)-Mo nanodisk structure superimposed on the GST-Al₂O₃ (aluminum oxide)-Mo film. Studies have shown that the combination of the inlaid metal-medium dielectric waveguide mode and the resonant cavity mode and the excitation of the propagating surface plasmon mode are the main reasons for the formation of the triple-band high absorption. Additionally, through the reversible phase change, the transition from high absorption to high reflection in the mid-infrared region is realized. The symmetry of the absorber eliminates the polarization dependence, and the near unity absorption efficiency can be maintained by incidence angles up to 60°. The presented method will enhance the functionality of the absorber and has the potential for the applications that require active control over light absorption.

Perfect Absorption and Refractive-Index Sensing by Metasurfaces Composed of Cross-Shaped Hole Arrays in Metal Substrate

Achieving perfect electromagnetic wave absorption with a sub-nanometer bandwidth is challenging, which, however, is desired for high-performance refractive-index sensing. In this work, we theoretically study metasurfaces for sensing applications based on an ultra-narrow band perfect absorption in the infrared region, whose full width at half maximum (FWHM) is only 1.74 nm. The studied metasurfaces are composed of a periodic array of cross-shaped holes in a silver substrate. The ultra-narrow band perfect absorption is related to a hybrid mode, whose physical mechanism is revealed by using a coupling model of two oscillators. The hybrid mode results from the strong coupling between the magnetic resonances in individual cross-shaped holes and the surface plasmon polaritons on the top surface of the silver substrate. Two conventional parameters, sensitivity (S) and figure of merit (FOM), are used to estimate the sensing performance, which are 1317 nm/RIU and 756, respectively. Such high-performance parameters suggest great potential for the application of label-free biosensing.

Micrometer-accuracy 2D displacement interferometer with plasmonic metasurface resonators

In this Letter, a high-accuracy, two-dimensional displacement sensor is proposed, designed, and demonstrated based on the concept of an extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer. The sensor is composed of two bundled single-mode optic fibers in parallel and two plasmonic metasurface resonators inscribed on a gold substrate via a focused ion beam. The fiber end surface and the metasurface are in parallel with a small cavity between. The cavity change or Z-component displacement is determined from the pattern of interference fringes. The X-component displacement, perpendicular to the Z component, is identified from wavelength-selective metasurface resonators, which possess unique resonant wavelengths due to different nanostructure designs. The sensor was calibrated with six displacements applied through a three-axis precision linear stage. Test results indicated that the proposed interferometer can measure displacements with a maximum error of 5.4 µm or 2.2%.

Ultra-narrow multi-band polarization-insensitive plasmonic perfect absorber for sensing

We theoretically propose a simple ultra-narrow multi-band perfect absorber for sensing applications. The perfect absorber consists of periodically arranged metallic nanodisks etched with regular prismatic holes standing on the dielectric-metal bi-layer films. Multiple ultra-narrow perfect absorption bands are obtained in the near-infrared region with the maximum bandwidth less than 21 nm and the intensity as high as 99.86%. The ultra-narrow multi-band perfect absorption originates from the synergy of localized surface plasmons, propagating surface plasmons and lattice resonances. The perfect absorber also presents other significant advantages, e.g. polarization insensitivity and high sensitivity of surrounding environments. Moreover, the prominent sensing performance for detecting the trace amounts of glucose in water is demonstrated. These features make it a promising candidate with great potential in the fields of perfect absorbers, plasmonic sensors, filters and multiplexing binding bio-molecular detection.

Dual-channel optical switch, refractive index sensor and slow light device based on a graphene metasurface

In this paper, we propose a graphene-based metasurface that exhibits multifunctions including tunable filter and slow-light which result from surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) of graphene and plasmon induced transparency (PIT), respectively. The proposed metasurface is composed by two pairs of graphene nano-rings and a graphene nanoribbon. Each group of graphene rings is separately placed on both sides of the graphene nanoribbon. Adjusting the working state of the nanoribbon can realize the functional conversion of the proposed multifunctional metasurface. After that, in the state of two narrow filters, we put forward the application concept of dual-channel optical switch. Using phase modulation of PIT and flexible Fermi level of graphene, we can achieve tunable slow light. In addition, the result shows that the graphene-based metasurface as a refractive index sensor can achieve a sensitivity of 13670 nm/RIU in terahertz range. These results enable the proposed device to be widely applied in tunable optical switches, slow light, and sensors.

Silicon carbide as a material-based high-impedance surface for enhanced absorption within ultra-thin metallic films

The absorption of infrared radiation within ultra-thin metallic films is technologically relevant for different thermal engineering applications and optoelectronic devices, as well as for fundamental research on sub-nanometer and atomically-thin materials. However, the maximal attainable absorption within an ultra-thin metallic film is intrinsically limited by both its geometry and material properties. Here, we demonstrate that material-based high-impedance surfaces enhance the absorptivity of the films, potentially leading to perfect absorption for optimal resistive layers, and a fourfold enhancement for films at deep nanometer scales. Moreover, material-based high-impedance surfaces do not suffer from spatial dispersion and the geometrical restrictions of their metamaterial counterparts. We provide a proof-of-concept experimental demonstration by using titanium nanofilms on top of a silicon carbide substrate.

Triple-Band Perfect Light Absorber Based on Hybrid Metasurface for Sensing Application

A simple design of triple-band perfect light absorber (PLA) based on hybrid metasurface in visible region has been presented in this work, which turns out to be applicable for refractive index (RI) sensing. Distinct from previous designs, the proposed hybrid metasurface for visible PLA is only consisted of periodic silicon cross nanostructure arrays and gold substrate. The periodic silicon cross arrays deposited on the gold substrate contribute to excite the guided modes under the normal incident light illumination. According to the simulation results, it can be found that three perfect absorption peaks of 98.1%, 98.7%, and 99.6% which are located at 402.5 THz, 429.5 THz, and 471.5 THz, respectively, have been clearly observed in PLA. This triple-band perfect absorption effect could be attributed to the intrinsic loss of silicon material originated from the guided mode excitations caused by the standing waves of different orders. It has been confirmed that the perfect absorption properties of the PLA can be easily regulated by changing the geometric parameters of the unit-cell nanostructure. Furthermore, the designed PLA served as a RI sensor can achieve sensitivity of about 25.3, 41.3, and 31.9 THz /refractive index unit (RIU). It can be believed that the proposed design of PLA for RI sensing would provide great potential applications in sensing, detecting, the enhanced visible spectroscopy, etc.

Mid-wave and long-wave infrared dual-band stacked metamaterial absorber for broadband with high refractive index sensitivity

A dual-band metamaterial absorber based on local surface plasmon resonance is designed, which is composed of a periodic arrangement of stacked nanodisk structures. The structure unit consists of two dielectric layers and three metal layers. Based on the finite difference time domain method, under the condition of vertically incident plane light, two absorption peaks in the mid-wave infrared and long-wave infrared (MWIR/LWIR) are obtained, and the absorption is greater than 98%. The absorber has good incident state tolerance characteristics. We can modulate the MWIR/LWIR absorption peaks by changing the radius of the stacked disk structure, and MWIR and LWIR dual-band broadband absorption can be achieved by integrating different size elements in the plane. The average absorption is 71% for MWIR with 1.1 µm bandwidth from 3.2 to 4.3 µm and 88% for LWIR with 3 µm bandwidth from 8.5 to 11.5 µm. At the same time, the structure also has effective refractive index (RI) sensitivity characteristics. In the RI range of 1.8-2, the maximum RI sensitivity of the LWIR and the MWIR is 1085 nm/refractive index unit (RIU) and 1472 nm/RIU, respectively.

Multipole Resonance in Arrays of Diamond Dielectric: A Metamaterial Perfect Absorber in the Visible Regime

Excellent characteristics and promising application prospects promote the rapid development of metamaterials. We have numerically proposed and demonstrated a novel subwavelength broadband metamaterial perfect absorber (BMPA) based on diamond dielectric arrays. The proposed absorber is composed of an ultra-thin two-layer structure covering the dielectric periodic array on a metal substrate. The materials of dielectric silicon (Si) and gold (Au) substrate are discussed in detail. In addition, different dielectric and refractory materials are also applied to achieve broadband absorption, which will make the proposed absorber greatly broaden the application field. A perfect absorption window (i.e., absorption rate exceeding 90%) can be obtained from near-ultraviolet to the visible range. The average absorption rate of 93.3% is achieved in the visible range. The results of multipole decomposition show that broadband absorption is mainly caused by electromagnetic dipole resonance and lattice resonance in a periodic array of Si. The proposed absorber can be extended freely by adjusting the structural parameters. The polarization-independent and incident angle insensitivity are proved. The proposed absorber may well be used in light energy acquisition, as well as for the scalability of optoelectronic and sensing devices.

Integrated dual-channel sensing utilizing polarized dissimilation based on photonic spin-orbit interaction

An integrated dual-channel sensing method utilizing polarized dissimilation is investigated with an appropriately designed plasmonic metasurface. By assembling two different kinds of nano-gold antennas to constitute a periodic array, the phase of diffraction fields contains both spin-dependent geometric phase and resonance-dependent dynamic phase components. Accurate control over the superposition of orthogonal spin components utilizing strong photonic spin-orbit interaction of metasurface leads to dissimilar response of different diffraction orders. The simulation shows that the linear polarization of ±1 diffraction orders rotate in the reverse direction (±19°) with the refractive index variation (1.3-1.5). The sensing method exhibits an extremely high signal-to-noise ratio and stability.

High-efficiency tunable plasmonically induced transparency-like effect in metasurfaces composed of graphene nano-rings and ribbon arrays and its application

In this paper, a plasmonically induced transparency (PIT)-like phenomenon in a metasurface composed of a periodic graphene ring and ribbon arrays is studied in the terahertz region. We used the Lorentz oscillator model to analyze the metasurface physically and theoretically. This PIT-like effect can be tuned by alternation of the chemical potential and dimension of the nano-graphene ring and ribbon. The resonance frequency of the PIT-like phenomenon is not sensitive to the incident lightwave angle. As an application of the structure, a refractive index sensor is proposed and simulated. Furthermore, we propose a metasurface composed of a double ring and graphene ribbon to realize the PIT-like effect with three dips. Our results express an appropriate approach for the expansion of mid-infrared absorbers and sensors.

Refractive Index Sensing of Monolayer Molecules Using Both Local and Propagating Surface Plasmons in Mid-Infrared Metagrating

Surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRA) is attractive for molecular sensing due to its high sensitivity and access to molecular fingerprint absorptions. In this paper, we report on refractive index sensing of monolayer molecules in a spectral band outside the molecular fingerprint region. In a metagrating composed of a three-layer metal-insulator-metal structure, both propagating surface plasmon resonances (PSPs) and local surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) are exited from free-space in a broad band of 3 to 9 µm, and their sensing properties are characterized. In response to a self-assembled monolayer of octadecanethiol (ODT) molecules, both PSPs and LSPRs exhibit redshifts in wavelength. The shifts of LSPRs are larger than those of PSPs, as originated from their stronger spatial confinement and larger field enhancement. Our proposed mid-infrared molecular sensor is immune to frequency variations of plasmon resonance and more tolerant to sample feature size variation.

Ultraviolet broadband plasmonic absorber with dual visible and near-infrared narrow bands

We propose an ultraviolet broadband plasmonic absorber with dual narrow bands located separately in the visible and near-infrared regions. It employs a three-layer dielectric and metallic film structure based on a ring square nanodisk array. The interaction of surface plasmon resonance with a Fabry-Perot cavity resonance results in perfect absorption. The absorption efficiency is greater than 99.9% at wavelengths of 660 and 919 nm (visible and near-infrared), respectively, under normal incidence. In the ultraviolet region from 240 to 500 nm, absorption efficiency of over 90% can be achieved. The geometric symmetry of the ring square makes the perfect absorber polarization-independent and insensitive to large incident angle. This perfect absorber, which combines broadband and narrowband absorption, can be used as sensors, solar cells, or thermal emitters within one integrated device with further investigations.

Refractory Ultra-Broadband Perfect Absorber from Visible to Near-Infrared

The spectral range of solar radiation observed on the earth is approximately 295 to 2500 nm. How to widen the absorption band of the plasmonic absorber in this range has become a hot issue in recent years. In this paper, we propose a highly applicable refractory perfect absorber with an elliptical titanium nanodisk array based on a silica⁻titanium⁻silica⁻titanium four-layer structure. Through theoretical design and numerical demonstration, the interaction of surface plasmon resonance with the Fabry⁻Perot cavity resonance results in high absorption characteristics. Our investigations illustrate that it can achieve ultra-broadband absorption above 90% from a visible 550-nm wavelength to a near-infrared 2200-nm wavelength continuously. In particular, a continuous 712-nm broadband perfect absorption of up to 99% is achieved from wavelengths from 1013 to 1725 nm. The air mass 1.5 solar simulation from a finite-difference time domain demonstrates that this absorber can provide an average absorption rate of 93.26% from wavelengths of 295 to 2500 nm, which can absorb solar radiation efficiently on the earth. Because of the high melting point of Ti material and the symmetrical structure of this device, this perfect absorber has excellent thermal stability, polarization independence, and large incident-angle insensitivity. Hence, it can be used for solar cells, thermal emitters, and infrared detection with further investigation.

Dual narrow-band absorber based on metal-insulator-metal configuration for refractive index sensing

Plasmonic gap mode in metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure has proven promising for refractive index sensing due to its near unity absorption. However, the sensing performance of gap mode has been limited by the broad resonance band, which is related to high plasmonic loss. In this work, square-patch-based MIM structures are used for simultaneous excitation of both the surface plasmon polariton and Rayleigh anomaly with large absorptions, and demonstrate their excellent sensing performances. For the Rayleigh anomaly, the sensitivity and full width half-maximum are 1470 nm/RIU and 0.23 nm, respectively. The corresponding figure of merit is calculated to be 6400 in wavelength shift form and 58,800 in intensity variation form. It is also observed that the two Wood's anomalies have reverse incident-angle-dependent properties, which can be explained by the opposite propagating direction of surface waves.

Tunable plasmonic substrates with ultrahigh Q-factor resonances

Precisely tailored plasmonic substrates can provide a platform for a variety of enhanced plasmonic applications in sensing and imaging. Despite the significant advances made in plasmonics, most plasmonic devices suffer critically from intrinsic absorption losses at optical frequencies, fatally restricting their efficiency. Here, we describe and engineer plasmonic substrates based on metal-insulator-metal (MIM) plasmon resonances with ultra-sharp optical transmission responses. Due to their sharp transmission spectrum, the proposed substrates can be utilized for high quality (Q)-factor multi-functional plasmonic applications. Analytical and numerical methods are exploited to investigate the optical properties of the substrates. The optical response of the substrate can be tuned by adjusting the periodicity of the nanograting patterned on the substrate. Fabricated substrates present Q-factors as high as ∼40 and refractive index sensing of the surrounding medium as high as 1245 nm/RIU. Our results indicate that by engineering the substrate geometry, the dielectric thickness and incident angle, the radiation losses can be greatly diminished, thus enabling the design of plasmonic substrates with large Q factor and strong sensitivity to the environment.

Covalent bonding-assisted nanotransfer lithography for the fabrication of plasmonic nano-optical elements

Many high-resolution patterning techniques have been developed to realize nano- and microscale applications of electric devices, sensors, and transistors. However, conventional patterning methods based on photo or e-beam lithography are not employed to fabricate optical elements of high aspect ratio and a sub-100 nm scale due to the limit of resolution, high costs and low throughput. In this study, covalent bonding-assisted nanotransfer lithography (CBNL) was proposed to fabricate various structures of high resolution and high aspect ratio at low cost by a robust and fast chemical reaction. The proposed process is based on the formation of covalent bonds between silicon of adhesive layers on a substrate and oxygen of the deposited material on the polymer stamp. The covalent bond is strong enough to detach multiple layers from the stamp for a large area without defects. The obtained nanostructures can be used for direct application or as a hard mask for etching. Two nano-optical applications were demonstrated in this study, i.e., a meta-surface and a wire-grid polarizer. A perfect absorption meta-surface was generated by transferring subwavelength hole arrays onto a substrate without any post-processing procedures. In addition, a wire-grid polarizer with high aspect ratio (1 : 3) and 50 nm line width was prepared by the nano-transfer of materials, which were used as a hard mask for etching. Therefore, CBNL provides a means of achieving large-area nano-optical elements with a simple roll-to-plate process at low cost.

Ultra-broadband, wide angle absorber utilizing metal insulator multilayers stack with a multi-thickness metal surface texture

In this paper, we propose a facile route to fabricate a metal insulator multilayer stack to obtain ultra-broadband, wide angle behavior from the structure. The absorber, which covers near infrared (NIR) and visible (Vis) ranges, consists of a metal-insulator-metal-insulator (MIMI) multilayer where the middle metal layer has a variant thickness. It is found that this non-uniform thickness of the metal provides us with an absorption that is much broader compared to planar architecture. In the non-uniform case, each thickness is responsible for a specific wavelength range where the overall absorption is the superposition of these resonant responses and consequently a broad, perfect light absorption is attained. We first numerically examine the impact of different geometries on the overall light absorption property of the multilayer design. Afterward, we fabricate the designs and characterize them to experimentally verify our numerical findings. Characterizations show a good agreement with numerical results where the optimum absorption bandwidth for planar design is found to be 620 nm (380 nm-1000 nm) and it is significantly boosted to an amount of 1060 nm (350 nm-1410 nm) for multi-thickness case.

Metamaterial perfect absorbers with solid and inverse periodic cross structures for optoelectronic applications

Metamaterial based on a metal/insulator/metal (MIM) tri-layer structure provides an agile platform to realize high absorption efficiency for a variety of applications including semiconductor optoelectronic detectors. In this work, we use the finite time domain difference (FDTD) method and coupled mode theory (CMT) to numerically study metal/semiconductor/metal (MSM) structures and discuss their effective absorption for optoelectronic application. We compare MSM structures with a different top metal layer design and find that cross shaped absorber (CSA) and it's complementary cross shaped absorber (CCSA) exhibit different phase diagrams due to a distinctive dependence of radiation loss on geometrical parameters. Our results show that CSA (CCSA) structures are suitable for thinner (thicker) sandwiched semiconductor with a larger (smaller) imaginary part of its dielectric constant. The necessary condition to realize a maximum figure of merit (FOM) value for effective absorption is discussed in comparison with the perfect absorber condition. Our work may provide guidelines to design the general light-harvesting optoelectronic devices with high efficiencies based on metamaterial-semiconductor hybrid systems.

Toward Multispectral Imaging with Colloidal Metasurface Pixels

Multispectral colloidal metasurfaces are fabricated that exhibit greater than 85% absorption and ≈100 nm linewidths by patterning film-coupled nanocubes in pixels using a fusion of bottom-up and top-down fabrication techniques over wafer-scale areas. With this technique, the authors realize a multispectral pixel array consisting of six resonances between 580 and 1125 nm and reconstruct an RGB image with 9261 color combinations.

Epitaxial Growth of Atomically Smooth Aluminum on Silicon and Its Intrinsic Optical Properties

Aluminum (Al) provides an excellent material platform for plasmonic applications in the ultraviolet (UV) regime due to its low loss coefficient at UV wavelengths. To fully realize the potential of this material, it is imperative to create nanostructures with minimal defects in order to prevent light scattering and better support plasmonic resonances. In this work, we report the successful development of atomically smooth epitaxial Al films on silicon. These epitaxial Al thin films facilitate the creation of fine plasmonic nanostructures and demonstrate considerable loss reduction in the UV frequency range, in comparison to the polycrystalline Al films based on spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements. Remarkably, our measurements on the epitaxial Al film grown using the two-step method suggest that the intrinsic loss in Al is significantly lower, by up to a factor of 2 in the UV range, with respect to current widely quoted Palik's values extracted from polycrystalline films. These high-quality epitaxial Al films provide an ideal platform for UV plasmonics. In addition, the availability of intrinsic optical constants will enable more accurate theoretical predictions to guide the device design.

Strong coupling between mid-infrared localized plasmons and phonons

We numerically and experimentally demonstrate strong coupling between the mid-infrared localized surface plasmon resonances supported by plasmonic metamaterials and the phonon vibrational resonances of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) molecules. The plasmonic resonances are tuned across the phonon resonance of PMMA molecules at 52 THz to observe the strong coupling, which manifests itself as an anti-crossing feature with two newly formed plasmon-phonon modes. It is also shown that the forbidden energy gap due to mode splitting is proportional to the overlapped optical power between the plasmonic resonance mode and the PMMA molecules, providing an effective approach for manipulating the coupling strength of light-matter interaction.

Enhanced structural color generation in aluminum metamaterials coated with a thin polymer layer

A high-resolution and angle-insensitive structural color generation platform is demonstrated based on triple-layer aluminum-silica-aluminum metamaterials supporting surface plasmon resonances tunable across the entire visible spectrum. The color performances of the fabricated aluminum metamaterials can be strongly enhanced by coating a thin transparent polymer layer on top. The results show that the presence of the polymer layer induces a better impedance matching for the plasmonic resonances to the free space so that strong light absorption can be obtained, leading to the generation of pure colors in cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) with high color saturation.

Structural color printing based on plasmonic metasurfaces of perfect light absorption

Subwavelength structural color filtering and printing technologies employing plasmonic nanostructures have recently been recognized as an important and beneficial complement to the traditional colorant-based pigmentation. However, the color saturation, brightness and incident angle tolerance of structural color printing need to be improved to meet the application requirement. Here we demonstrate a structural color printing method based on plasmonic metasurfaces of perfect light absorption to improve color performances such as saturation and brightness. Thin-layer perfect absorbers with periodic hole arrays are designed at visible frequencies and the absorption peaks are tuned by simply adjusting the hole size and periodicity. Near perfect light absorption with high quality factors are obtained to realize high-resolution, angle-insensitive plasmonic color printing with high color saturation and brightness. Moreover, the fabricated metasurfaces can be protected with a protective coating for ambient use without degrading performances. The demonstrated structural color printing platform offers great potential for applications ranging from security marking to information storage.

Aluminum plasmonic metamaterials for structural color printing

We report a structural color printing platform based on aluminum plasmonic metamaterials supporting near perfect light absorption and narrow-band spectral response tunable across the visible spectrum to realize high-resolution, angle-insensitive color printing with high color purity and saturation. Additionally, the fabricated metamaterials can be protected by a transparent polymer thin layer for ambient use with further improved color performance. The demonstrated structural color printing with aluminum plasmonic metamaterials offers great potential for relevant applications such as security marking and information storage.

Mode matching in multiresonant plasmonic nanoantennas for enhanced second harmonic generation

Boosting nonlinear frequency conversion in extremely confined volumes remains a challenge in nano-optics research, but can enable applications in nanomedicine, photocatalysis and background-free biosensing. To obtain brighter nonlinear nanoscale sources, approaches that enhance the electromagnetic field intensity and counter the lack of phase matching in nanoplasmonic systems are often employed. However, the high degree of symmetry in the crystalline structure of plasmonic materials (metals in particular) and in nanoantenna designs strongly quenches second harmonic generation. Here, we describe doubly-resonant single-crystalline gold nanostructures with no axial symmetry displaying spatial mode overlap at both the excitation and second harmonic wavelengths. The combination of these features allows the attainment of a nonlinear coefficient for second harmonic generation of ∼5 × 10(-10) W(-1), enabling a second harmonic photon yield higher than 3 × 10(6) photons per second. Theoretical estimations point toward the use of our nonlinear plasmonic nanoantennas as efficient platforms for label-free molecular sensing.