title: A high transmission wave-guide wire network made by self-assembly.
abstract: Polymer self-assembly of a 3D continuous gyroid morphology was replicated into a network consisting of hollow gold struts. This was achieved by first replicating a gyroid structured film into nickel. The Ni network was employed as an electrode for electrochemical Au deposition, followed by the removal of Ni. The resulting hollow network of plasmonic gold exhibited a substantial optical transmission enhancement by a factor of nearly 3, compared to a network of full Au struts. The overall transmission across the hollow wave-guide morphology depends sensitively on the wall-thickness of the hollow struts down to 1 nm. The dramatic transmission increase arises from an interplay of three mechanisms: (1) the additional number of modes propagating through the wave-guide structure, (2) the increased efficiency of light in-coupling, and (3) a reduction of dissipation by decreasing the Au-volume experienced in plasmon mode propagation.
authors.affiliation: Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK. ullrich.steiner@unifr.ch.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salvatore
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vignolini
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Philpott
authors.forename: Morgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stefik
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Wiesner
authors.forename: Jeremy J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Baumberg
authors.forename: Ullrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Steiner