Sol-gel nanocomposites as metamaterials : preparation and optical measurements

Issue Title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Optical and Optoelectronic Properties of Materials and Applications (ICOOPMA 2006) Guest Editors: Jai Singh, Takeshi Aoki, Koichi Shimakawa and Harry Ruda Nanocomposites made of Ag nanowires imbedded in a sol-gel host have been morphologically and optically investigated. Sonication during solidification significantly improved nanowire dispersal. The data from the nanocomposites were compared to the data from pure sol-gels in order to determine the effects of the nanowires. Reflectometry data at 1064 nm show that the presence of 5% nanowires (by volume) results in a decrease from 1.17 to [asymptotically =] 1.1 in the real part of the index of refraction accompanied by an increase in the imaginary part. Transmission loss in the pure sol-gel is mainly due to scattering from inhomogeneities, and the inclusion of nanowires (or the process of doing so) appears to result in a significant reduction of the scattering loss.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]