Regulating disordered plasmonic nanoparticles into polarization sensitive metasurfaces

Metasurfaces composed of regularly arranged and deliberately oriented metallic nanoparticles can be employed to manipulate the amplitude, phase and polarization of an incident electromagnetic wave. The metasurfaces operating in the visible to near infrared spectral range rely on the modern fabrication technologies which offer a spatial resolution beyond the optical diffraction limit. Although direct laser writing is an alternative to the fabrication of nanostructures, the achievement of regular nanostructures with deep-subwavelength periods by using this method remains a big challenge. Here, we proposed and demonstrated a novel strategy for regulating disordered plasmonic nanoparticles into nanogratings with deep-subwavelength periods and reshaped nanoparticles by using femtosecond laser pulses. The orientations of the nanogratings depend strongly on the polarization of the femtosecond laser light. Such nanogratings exhibit reflection and polarization control over the reflected light, enabling the realization of polarization sensitive optical memory and color display with high spatial resolution and good chromacity.