Broadband near-field enhancement in the macro-periodic and micro-random structure with a hybridized excitation of propagating Bloch-plasmonic and localized surface-plasmonic modes

We demonstrate that the silver nanoplate-based macroscopically periodic (macro-periodic) and microscopically random (micro-random) structure has a broadband near-field enhancement as compared to conventional silver gratings. The specific field enhancement in a wide spectral range (from UV to near-infrared) originates from the abundance of localized surface-plasmonic (LSP) modes in the microscopically random distributed silver nanoplates and propagating Bloch-plasmonic (PBP) modes from the macroscopically periodic pattern. The characterization of polarization dependent spectral absorption, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), as well as theoretical simulation was conducted to comprehensively understand the features of the broadband spectrum and highly concentrated near-field. The reported macro-periodic and micro-random structure may offer a new route for the design of plasmonic systems for photonic and optoelectronic applications.