Anisotropic plasmonic Cu nanoparticles in sol-gel oxide nanopillars studied by spectroscopic Mueller matrix ellipsometry.

Broadened plasmon resonances of Cu nanoparticles in nanopatterned mixed oxide sol-gel nanopillars are shown to be readily detected by spectroscopic Mueller matrix ellipsometry. The plasmonic nanomaterials are obtained by low energy ion sputtering of a CuO sol-gel film. Both s- and p-polarized plasmon resonances are observed in the off-block-diagonal and the block-diagonal Mueller matrix elements as well as in the generalized ellipsometric parameters. The resonant features in all elements correlate with both maximum depolarization and a minimum in the reflected intensity. The spectral position and the polarization character of the plasmon resonances are discussed phenomenologically through effective medium theory.