FN ISI Export Format VR 1.0 PT J TI High aspect ratio plasmonic nanostructures for sensing applications AF Päivänranta, Birgit Merbold, Hannes Giannini, Reto Büchi, Luca Gorelick, Sergey David, Christian Löffler, Jörg F. Feurer, Thomas Ekinci, Yasin AU Päivänranta, B Merbold, H Giannini, R Büchi, L Gorelick, S David, C Löffler, JF Feurer, T Ekinci, Y SO ACS nano VL 5 BP 6374 EP 6382 PY 2011 AB We present an experimental and theoretical study of plasmonic modes in high aspect ratio nanostructures in the visible wavelength region and demonstrate their high performance for sensing applications. Ordered and well-defined plasmonic structures with various cross-sectional profiles and heights are obtained using a top-down fabrication process. We show that, compared to cylindrical nanorods, structures with split-ring resonator-like cross sections have great potential for powerful sensing due to a pronounced polarization dependence, strong field enhancement, structural tunability, and improved mechanical stability. The plasmonic structures under study exhibit high sensitivities, up to nearly 600 nm/RIU, and figures of merit above 20. DI 10.1021/nn201529x C1 Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen-PSI, Switzerland. ER