Plasmonic Metamaterials and Nanocomposites with the Narrow Transparency Window Effect in Broad Extinction Spectra

Abstract

We propose and describe plasmonic nanomaterials with unique optical properties. These nanostructured materials strongly attenuate light across a broad wavelength interval ranged from 400 nm to 5 μm but exhibit a narrow transparency window centered at a given wavelength. The main elements used in our systems are nanorods and nanocrosses of variable sizes. The nanomaterial can be designed as a solution, nanocomposite film or metastructure. The principle of the formation of the transparency window in the broad extinction spectrum is based on the narrow lines of longitudinal plasmons of single nanorods and nanorod complexes. To realize the spectrum with a transmission window, we design a nanocomposite material as a mixture of nanorods of different sizes. Simultaneously, we exclude nanorods of certain lengths from the nanorod ensemble. The width of the plasmonic transparency window is determined by the intrinsic and radiative broadenings of the nanocrystal plasmons. Nanocrystals can be randomly dispersed in a ...