Distinguishing plasmonic absorption modes by virtue of inversed architectures with tunable atomic-layer-deposited spacer layer.

We demonstrated the distinguishing between plasmonic absorption modes by exploiting an inversed architecture with tunable atomic-layer-deposited dielectric spacer layer. The dielectric spacer layer was manipulated between the bottom metal-nanoparticle monolayer and the upper metal film to inspect the contributions of metal nanoparticles and dielectric film in a step-by-step manner. The experimental and simulated differences between the two peak absorption positions (Δf) and between the corresponding half width at half maxima (Δw) confirmed the evolutions of gap plasmon and interference-enhanced local surface plasmon resonance absorption modes in the plasmonic metamaterial absorbers (PMAs), which were useful for understanding the underlying mechanism of amorphous PMAs.