Visualization of plasmon-enhanced electric fields in silver dendritic fractal structures

Abstract

Understanding and visualizing complex nanophotonic fields, particularly on nanostructures with intricate three-dimensional morphologies, is crucial for advancing nanophotonics and plasmonics research. In this work, we demonstrate a novel approach for visualizing and mapping these fields in three-dimensional fractal silver dendritic structures. By leveraging the localized field enhancement generated by LSPR and the intensity-threshold nature of visible-light photopolymerization using a specific resin, we selectively solidify the resin in regions of intense light intensity. The resulting wavelength-dependent spatial distribution of the solidified polymer serves as a high-resolution, three-dimensional physical replica of the LSPR-enhanced fields and distinct plasmon modes excited across the dendritic surface at various incident wavelengths. This work provides experimental insight into how morphology and incident wavelength collectively govern plasmonic response in complex fractal geometries, advancing the understanding of LSPR in silver dendrites and opening up new avenues for designing plasmonic materials and devices with tailored field distributions visualized in 3D. The developed visualization technique, capable of mapping complex 3D fields, is anticipated to have significant applications in fields such as sensing, medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, imaging, and nanophotonic device engineering.