title: Surface plasmon coupling enhanced dielectric environment sensitivity in a quasi-three-dimensional metallic nanohole array.
abstract: An enhanced dielectric environment response is observed in a kind of metallic nanohole arrays which are prepared by metal deposition on a sacrificial two dimensional colloidal crystal template. The periodic metallic structures are composed of interlinked metallic half-shells supported on a planar dielectric substrate. When putting in dielectric matrix of different refractive index, the measured sensitivity of the quasi-three-dimensional metallic nanohole array can reach a value of 1192 nm per refractive index unit which shows a five-fold increase as compared with the metallic structures supported on the template. The observed boost in sensitivity is found to originate from a substantially reduced substrate effect, resulting in a pronounced surface plasmon coupling of which its strength is independent of the dielectric environment, a characteristics absent in conventional planar metallic subwavelength hole arrays. These findings are analyzed theoretically and confirmed by numerical simulations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: Shining
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Naiben
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.forename: Zhenlin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wenda
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Xunya
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zi
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D008670:Metals