Measurement of optical anisotropy in ultrathin films using surface plasmon resonance

•Surface plasmon resonance used for measuring optical anisotropy in ultrathin films.•Ultrathin films were fabricated using Langmuir–Blodgett and self-assembly techniques.•The films were anisotropic with respect to orientation of molecules on the surface.•SPR behaviors of the films were found different in the orthogonal directions.•The refractive index of the films were estimated in the orthogonal directions.

The optical phenomenon, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is employed for the measurement of optical anisotropy in the ultrathin films fabricated through Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) and self-assembled monolayer (SAM) techniques onto 50 nm gold film supported on BK7 glass substrates. The resonance angle (RA) is measured using a home built setup in Kretschmann configuration. The LB films and SAM can provide a single layer of highly ordered and organized molecules on the two dimensional surface. If the film forming molecules are anisotropic, their organization in the LB films and SAM can yield an anisotropic film due to tilt of the molecules with respect to the surface normal. The SPR spectra are recorded for the two orthogonal directions of the film with respect to the plane of incidence. The spectra are simulated by modeling the Fresnel's reflection from 4-layers viz., prism, gold, ultrathin films and air; and the real and imaginary parts of refractive index are estimated. Our study shows the metallic and dielectric nature of the LB films of bundles of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) when the long axis of SWCNTs are aligned parallel and perpendicular to plane of incidence, respectively. The optical anisotropy was estimated from the change in real part of refractive index (Δnr) of the ultrathin films measured in the orthogonal directions. In addition, we have also studied such optical anisotropy in the LB film of cadmium-stearate and self-assembled monolayer of octadecanethiol.

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