%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/).