Abstract
Periodic gratings and photonic bandgap structures have been studied for decades in optical technologies. The translational invariance of periodic gratings gives rise to well-known angular and frequency filtering of the incident radiation resulting in well-defined scattered colors in response to broadband illumination. Here, we demonstrate the formation of highly complex structural color patterns, or colorimetric fingerprints, in two-dimensional (2D) deterministic aperiodic gratings using dark field scattering microscopy. The origin of colorimetric fingerprints is explained by rigorous full-wave numerical simulations based on the generalized Mie theory. We show that unlike periodic gratings, aperiodic nanopatterned surfaces feature a broadband frequency response with wide angular intensity distributions governed by the distinctive Fourier properties of the aperiodic structures. Finally, we will discuss a range of potential applications of colorimetric fingerprints for optical sensing and spectroscopy.
Highlights
Scattering of photons by periodic photonic structures gives rise to a variety of interesting physical effects including manipulation of spontaneous emission [1], formation of forbidden photonic gaps [2], enhanced resonant light extraction [3,4], and resonant narrow-band backscattering [5]
Deterministic aperiodic structures lack translational invariance inherent to periodic media, yet may feature global and/or local rotational symmetries that are forbidden in periodic lattices (i.e non-crystallographic symmetries)
The particular spatial distribution of the localized colors is uniquely governed by the geometrical configurations of the aperiodic structures, while the resonant scattering response of individual scattering elements contributes to the intensity distribution of various spectral components in the colorimetric fingerprint
Summary
Scattering of photons by periodic photonic structures gives rise to a variety of interesting physical effects including manipulation of spontaneous emission [1], formation of forbidden photonic gaps [2], enhanced resonant light extraction [3,4], and resonant narrow-band backscattering [5]. The scattering intensity distribution in the far-field zone of aperiodic photonic gratings follows the corresponding Fourier transforms of the geometrical lattices [see Fig. 1(c), 1(f)] and can be flexibly engineered by changing the aperiodic array morphology. This feature of aperiodic gratings has already been used to efficiently extract light from semiconductor light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and to shape the light emission profile [12]. We demonstrate how multiple light scattering in nano-patterned deterministic aperiodic surfaces, which occurs over a broad spectral-angular range, leads to the formation of highly complex structural color patterns, or colorimetric fingerprints, in both the near and the farfield zones.
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