Bio-inspired plasmonic leaf for enhanced light-matter interactions

The mathematical concept of fractals is widely applied to photonics as planar structures ranging from terahertz resonators, optical antennas, to photodetectors. Here, instead of a direct mathematical abstract, we design a plasmonic leaf with fractal geometry from the outline of a leaf from Wargrave Pink. The enhanced light-matter interactions are observed numerically from the improvement in both absorption and near-field intensification. To demonstrate the effect experimentally, a three-dimensional fractal structure is realised through direct laser writing, which significantly improves the photothermal conversion. By virtue of the self-similarity in geometry, the artificial leaf improves the absorption of a 10-nm-thick gold film with 14 × temperature increment compared to flat Au film. Not limited to the proof-of-concept photothermal experiment demonstrated here, the fractal structure with improved light-matter interactions can be utilised in a variety of applications ranging from non-linear harmonic generation, plasmonic-enhanced fluorescence, to hot electron generation for photocatalysis.