Tunning the optical parameters in nanocomposites: electromagnetic modeling for ?custom sized? structures

MARTINEZ RICCI, MARIA LUZ

Maresias

Conferencia; 9th International Conference on Optical, Optoelectronic and Photonic Materials and Applications; 2018

Nanocomposites are nowadays one of the most promising architectures for the production of highly tunable systems. Adjusting the composite response within the optical range gives the possibility to design ?custom sized? nanostructures with novel photonic or plasmonic [1] responses.In many interesting optical systems, as in photonic crystals, the nanostructure is synthesized following a consecutive stacking of building blocks. The characterization and understanding of each building block results a keystone to predict the final optical response of the system as a whole. The mesoporous oxide slabs (MOS) are very interesting building blocks for these types of nanocomposites. They highlight for their versatility being able to tune their optical response by controlling the refractive index of the nanostructure slab. Many factors influence the MOS final optical response: pore size, pore filling factor, absorption components within the oxide matrix or due to geometrical extinctions as rugosity [2]. Added to these factors, the possibility to use pores as nano-reactors widens-up the refractive index control to obtain novel nanocomposites. In this direction electromagnetic (EM) modeling results a useful technique to understand the role of each parameter in the structure and to predict optical responses in complex structures. In this talk, the characterization of MOS synthesized by different routes is described [3], focusing specially onto those geometrical and constitutive aspects that entail a refractive index change. A dual retroalimentation work among characterization techniques as PEA, SEM or AFM within an EM framework will allow a proper simulation of the optical behavior for a tuned design of photonic or plasmonic structures of novel or unusual responses.