Shadow deposition of copper nanowires on the faceted NaCl(1 1 0) template

We studied microstructures and optical properties of self-organized arrays of copper nanowires. Shadow deposition onto (1 1 0) faceted faces of NaCl crystals has been demonstrated as a simple technique for fabricating wide-area arrays suitable for both transmission electron microscopy and optical measurements. Optical absorption spectra of the thinner nanowires exhibited stronger anisotropic absorption than the thicker nanowires. Absorption maxima are located at lower photon energy when the incident field is parallel to the wire axes than they are perpendicular to each other. They also shift to lower energy when the widths of the nanowires are increased. Maxwell–Garnett model was found to be inappropriate to explain the present results except the case of non-retardation limit.