Plasmonic color-graded nanosystems with achromatic sub-wavelength architectures for light filtering and advanced SERS detection

Plasmonic colour-graded systems are devices featuring a spatially variable plasmonic response over their surface. They are widely used as nanoscale colour filters; their typical size is small enough to allow integration with miniaturized electronic circuits paving the way to realize novel nanophotonic devices. Currently, most plasmonic colour-graded systems are intrinsically discrete, as their chromatic response exploits the tailored plasmon resonance of micro-architectures characterized by different size and/or geometry for each target colour. Here we report the realization of multifunctional plasmon-graded devices where continuously-graded chromatic response is achieved by smoothly tuning the composition of the resonator material while simultaneously maintaining an achromatic nanoscale geometry. The result is a new class of versatile materials: we show their application as plasmonic filters with a potential pixel size smaller than half of the exciting wavelength, but also as multiplexed surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates. Many more implementations, like photovoltaic efficiency boosters or colour routers await, and will benefit from the low fabrication cost and intrinsic plasmonic flexibility of the presented systems.