ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Directly patterned substrate-free plasmonic ‘‘nanograter’’
structures with unusual Fano resonances
Ajuan Cui
1,
*
, Zhe Liu
1,
*
, Jiafang Li
1,
*
, Tiehan H Shen
2
, Xiaoxiang Xia
1
, Zhiyuan Li
1
, Zhijie Gong
3
, Hongqiang Li
3
,
Benli Wang
1
, Junjie Li
1
, Haifang Yang
1
, Wuxia Li
1
and Changzhi Gu
1,4
The application of three-dimensi onal (3D) plasmonic nanostructures as metamaterials (MMs), nano-antennas, and other devices
faces challenges in producing metallic nanostructures with easily definable orientations, sophisticated shapes, and smooth surfaces
that are operational in the optical regime and beyond. Here, we demonstrate that complex 3D nanostructures can be readily achieved
with focused-ion-beam irradiation-induced folding and examine the optical characteristics of plasmonic ‘‘nanograter’’ structures that
are composed of free-standing Au films. These 3D nanostructures exhibit interesting 3D hybridization in current flows and exhibit
unusual and well-scalable Fano resonances at wavelengths ranging from 1.6 to 6.4 mm. Upon the introduction of liquids of various
refractive indices to the structures, a strong dependence of the Fano resonance is observed, with spectral sensitivities of 1400 nm and
2040 nm per refractive index unit under figures of merit of 35.0 and 12.5, respectively, for low-order and high-order resonance in the
near-infrared region. This work indicates the exciting, increasing relevance of similarly constructed 3D free-standing nanostructures in
the research and development of photonics and MMs.
Light: Science & Applications (2015) 4, e308; doi:10.1038/lsa.2015.81; published online 3 July 2015
Keywords: extraordinary Fano resonances; plasmonic nanostructures; spatially oriented; substrate-free; three-dimensional
INTRODUCTION
Metamaterials (MMs) have been the subject of enormous research
effort in recent years. Fascinating optical properties, such as negative
index
1–3
, super-resolution
4–7
, and electromagnetic invisibility
8,9
, have
been explored in three-dimensional (3D) MMs, many of these prop-
erties are based on plasmonic resonances. Fano resonances in plasmo-
nic nanostructures and MMs, as highlighted recently by Luk’yanchuk
and co-workers
10
, may have applications in sensors, lasing, switching,
and nonlinear devices due to the steep profile of the resonance spectra.
For example, Wu et al. demonstrated the application of a Fano-res-
onant asymmetric MM structure in ultrasensitive spectroscopy and
the identification of molecular monolayers
11
. Chen et al. theoretically
described an ‘‘extraordinary Fano resonance’’ with right-handedness
in a right-handed polarization gap of compound spiral photonic crys-
tals
12
. More recently, Wei et al. investigated weak Fano resonances in
3D dual cut-wire pairs
13
.
The key motivation in producing 3D structures has always been the
realization of MMs with effective constituent properties that can be
tuned in all propagation directions at various frequencies. Techniques
for fabricating millimeter-scale 3D MMs that are operational in the
microwave regime, such as split ring resonators (SRRs) and metal
wires, are well established
1
. By comparison, scaling down 3D MMs
for applications at higher frequencies, such as in the infrared and
visible regimes, remains an active focus of research. Many micro/nano
fabrication techniques featuring 3D structures that could be applied to
photonic and MMs have been developed in recent years. These tech-
niques include layer-by-layer stacking
3,14,15
, structural rolling
16,17
,
shadow evaporation
18
, multilayer electroplating
19
, membraneprojection
lithography
20,21
, stress-driven assembly
22
, direct laser writing
8,23–28
,and
ion-beam irradiation
29–31
. However, effective fabrication of nanoscale
3D plasmonic structures that can be spatially oriented with a hierarchical
geometry remains challenging. In addition, most of the 3D MMs struc-
tures require supporting substrates, which may introduce undesirable
effects. Theoretical studies have indicated that the substrate may have
profound effects on the intrinsic properties of 3D MMs
32
and frequently
should be avoided. The emergence of focused-ion-beam (FIB) folding of
metallic cantilevers
33
offers a convenient method for constructing self-
supporting nanostructures, but studies of FIB-fabricated two-dimen-
sional (2D) arrays of 3D plasmonic elements and their optical character-
istics have been limited.
In this article, we report the application of FIB folding for the direct
fabrication of substrate-free 3D plasmonic nanostructures and their
unusual Fano resonances. The fabrication process employs FIB nano-
patterning combined with in situ irradiation-induced folding of
metallic thin-film structures. We demonstrate that this method can
be used to produce complex 3D structural elements with ease and is
also feasible for the production of 2D arrays of millimeter-sized 3D
elements, which have practical uses in many optical applications.
*These authors contributed equally to this work
1
Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;
2
Joule Physics Laboratory, School of
Computing, Science and Engineering, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT, UK;
3
School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China and
4
Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 200092, China
Correspondence: WX Li, Email: liwuxia@aphy.iphy.ac.cn; CZ Gu, Email: czgu@aphy.iphy.ac.cn
Received 4 January 2015; revised 23 March 2015; accepted 24 March 2015 accepted article preview online 31 March 2015
OPEN
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