Ultrafast Nonlinear Response of Gold Gyroid Three-Dimensional Metamaterials

The authors study the optical properties of self-organized three-dimensional metamaterials, and explain their observations with a simple analytical model. These systems exhibit three outstanding features: a tunable plasmonic response orders of magnitude stronger than previously reported; operation in the visible, rather than infrared or microwave, spectrum; and fabrication via self-assembly, rather than a complicated multistage process such as lithography. Thus such metamaterials potentially provide a practical and attractive avenue for future applications.