Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) offer unconventional properties in the field of optics, enabling opportunities for confinement and propagation of light at the nanoscale. In‐plane orientation of the optical axis, in the direction coinciding with the anisotropy of the HMMs, is desirable for a variety of novel applications in nanophotonics and imaging. Here, a method for creating localized HMMs with in‐plane optical axis, based on block copolymer (BCP) blend instability, is introduced. The dewetting of BCP thin film over topographically defined substrates generates droplets composed of highly ordered lamellar nanostructures in hierarchical configuration. The hierarchical nanostructures represent a valuable platform for the subsequent pattern transfer into a Au/air HMM, exhibiting hyperbolic behavior in a broad wavelength range in the visible spectrum. A computed Purcell factor as high as 32 at 580 nm supports the strong reduction in the fluorescence lifetime of defects in nanodiamonds placed on top of the HMM.
Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) offer unconventional properties in the field of optics, enabling the opportunity for confinement and propagation of light at the nanoscale. In-plane orientation of the optical axis, in the direction coinciding with the anisotropy of the HMMs, is desirable for a variety of novel applications in nanophotonics and imaging. Here, we introduce a method for creating localized HMMs with in-plane optical axis based on block copolymers (BCPs) blend instability. The dewetting of BCP thin film over topographically defined substrates generates droplets composed of highly ordered lamellar nanostructures in hierarchical configuration. The hierarchical nanostructures represent a valuable platform for the subsequent pattern transfer into a Au/air HMM, exhibiting hyperbolic behavior in a broad wavelength range in the visible spectrum. A computed Purcell factor as high as 32 at 580 nm supports the strong reduction in the fluorescence lifetime of defects in nanodiamonds placed on top of the HMM.
The dewetting of lamellar phase block copolymer films over topographically defined substrates generates hierarchically aligned hyperbolic metamaterials (HMM) with in‐plane optical axis. Strong reduction in the fluorescence lifetime was observed in nanodiamonds coupled to the Au/air HMM. The analyzed system exhibits hyperbolic behavior in a broad wavelength range in the visible spectrum. For further details, see article number 2001933 by Federico Ferrarese Lupi and co‐workers.
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