%0 Journal Article
%A Alvarez Fernandez, A
%A Aissou, K
%A Pécastaings, G
%A Hadziioannou, G
%A Fleury, G
%A Ponsinet, V
%D 2018
%F discovery:10064491
%J Nanoscale Advances
%P 849-857
%T High refractive index in low metal content nanoplasmonic surfaces from self-assembled block copolymer thin films
%U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10064491/
%V 1
%X Materials with a high and tunable refractive index are attractive for nanophotonic applications. In this contribution, we propose a straightforward fabrication technique of high-refractive index surfaces based on self-assembled nanostructured block copolymer thin films. The selective and customizable metal incorporation within out-of-plane polymer lamellae produces azimuthally isotropic metallic nanostructures of defined geometries, which were analysed using microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering techniques. Variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to relate the geometrical parameters of the metallic features and the resulting refractive index of the patterned surfaces. In particular, nanostructured gold patterns with a high degree of homogeneity and a gold content as low as 16 vol% reach a refractive index value of more than 3 in the visible domain. Our study thus demonstrates a new route for the preparation of high refractive index surfaces with a low metal content for optical applications.
%Z © Royal Society of Chemistry 2018. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).