Dichroic colored luster of laser-induced silver nanoparticle gratings buried in dense inorganic films

This paper deals with the colorimetric properties of silver nanoparticle gratings buried in a dense titania film that result from a continuous wave laser-induced self-organization process. The samples exhibit shining colors in the direction of the specular reflection, which are very sensitive to polarization. We show that a large color gamut and a tunable dichroism can be reached by varying the exposure conditions. We also discuss the physical meaning of the observed variations in the dichroism. This laser process produces a single pass marking with a micrometer resolution and could be useful for developing innovative solutions in fields like active color displays, security, polarization imaging, or design. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America