Polarization-sensitive linear plasmonic nanostructures via colloidal lithography with uniaxial colloidal arrays.

The ability of metallic nanostructures to support surface plasmon excitations is widely exploited nowadays for developing new technologies and applications in many fields, like communications, medicine or environment. It is known that the plasmonic response of a nanostructure is strongly dependent on its size and shape, and thus a fine control of these features is required for developing applications. In this paper uniaxial colloidal crystal arrays are prepared by convective self-assembly on DVD surfaces. These are then used as template/mask for metal film deposition, in order to obtain two original kinds of metallic nanostructures with controllable morphology: (i) linear arrays of metal half-shells (LAMHSs) and (ii) arrays of periodically serrated plasmonic strips (PSPSs). Angle-resolved optical transmittance measurements reveal the presence of several surface plasmon resonances, while polarized light transmission demonstrates the anisotropic plasmonic response of both LAMHSs and PSPSs. FDTD simulations support the experimental observations and help in the assignments of observed plasmon modes. The proposed linear metallic nanostructures can prove useful for the design of plasmonic components.