In the last decade, nano-optics has emerged as a scientific field, pushing the boundaries of science. [1] A very important subcategory of this field is the study and fabrication of various 2D and 3D artificial materials, based on layers of structured dielectrics and metals. [2] The reason for the interest in these metamaterials and metasurfaces is the vast variety of applications, such as guiding, shaping, and focusing of light beams, the development of ultrathin highly efficient polarizing elements and many more. [3] Recently, orthorhombic carbon phase structures were theoretically predicted, with enhanced optical and structural properties. [4][5][6][7] Carbon allotropes and carbon hybrid materials with embedded metal structures, have been proven to be a beneficial building-block in opto-electronicCarbon-based and carbon-metal hybrid materials hold great potential for applications in optics and electronics. Here, a novel material made of carbon and gold-silver nanoparticles is discussed, fabricated using a laser-induced self-assembly process. This self-assembled metamaterial manifests itself in the form of cuboids with lateral dimensions on the order of several micrometers and a height of tens to hundreds of nanometers. The carbon atoms are arranged following an orthorhombic unit cell, with alloy nanoparticles intercalated in the crystalline carbon matrix. The optical properties of this metamaterial are analyzed experimentally using a microscopic Müller matrix measurement approach and reveal a high linear birefringence across the visible spectral range. Theoretical modeling based on local-field theory applied to the carbon matrix links the birefringence to the orthorhombic unit cell, while finite-difference time-domain simulations of the metamaterial relates the observed optical response to the distribution of the alloy nanoparticles and the optical density of the carbon matrix.
Orthorhombic Carbon@Au-AgThe ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under https://doi.