Exciting the optical response of nanowire metamaterial films on the tip of optical fibres

Abstract

This Letter reports on the assembly on the tip of an optical fibre of a metamaterial film fabricated by a self-assembly bottom-up method, composed of silver nanowires embedded in an alumina matrix. By illuminating the film through the fibre in a reflection configuration, we observe experimentally the optical response of the metamaterial in agreement with theoretical predictions and interpreted as the excitation of surface plasmon-polaritons in the cylindrical surface of the nanowires. These results pave the way for low-cost optical fibre devices that incorporate metamaterial films. Micrographs of a nanowire metamaterial film mounted on the tip of an optical fibre (left) and top-view of the sample in a transmission configuration (right). The red colour results from the absorption of the other optical wavelengths by the plasmon modes in the metamaterial. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.