Generation of High Quality, Uniform and Stable Plasmonic Colorants via Laser Direct Writing

Brilliant plasmonic colors with long-standing stability are generated via laser direct writing. This plasmonic coloring system is made of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) layer embedded in the quartz glass formed by ion implantation. The laser-induced plasmonic heating merges the small Ag NPs into larger ones, which modifies the plasmon resonances. The plasmon resonances can be further tuned via changing the irradiation time and power, which shows scattering colors ranging from red to green and cyan. By scanning the laser across the Ag NPs layer, sophisticated plasmonic patterns and images with high resolution (approximate to 10(5) DPI) can be obtained and preserved over long time (several months). This plasmonic coloring system via laser printing is facile, cost-effective, accurate, and highly stable with rich hue, compared to other plasmonic color systems, which bears significant potentials for industrial applications such as optics, displays, decorations, data storage, and anti-counterfeiting.