Plasmonic metals, such as Cu and Al, have been considered as potential low-loss alternatives for Au and Ag for photonic structures and devices. However, challenges remain in the fabrication and applications of Cu nanostructures, because of its easy oxidation issues. In this work, a new metamaterial structure of plasmonic Cu nanostructures embedded in a dielectric ZnO matrix has been designed and successfully fabricated using a one-step thin film growth method. The Cu–ZnO hybrid thin films present excellent epitaxial quality and exotic optical properties, such as strong localized surface plasmon resonance in the visible regime, and, highly anisotropic and hyperbolic optical response, revealed by angular dependent and polarization resolved reflectivity measurements. This hyperbolic plasmonic metamaterial via the metal-in-oxide matrix form combining low-loss plasmonic Cu nanostructures and extraordinary anisotropic optical properties could be used towards various nanophotonic applications, such as plasmonic solar energy devices and hyperlens.

等离子金属，例如Cu和Al，被认为是光子结构和器件的Au和Ag的潜在低损耗替代品。然而，由于其容易氧化的问题，在铜纳米结构的制造和应用中仍然存在挑战。在这项工作中，已经设计出了一种嵌入电介质ZnO基质中的等离子体Cu纳米结构的新超材料结构，并使用一步式薄膜生长方法成功地制造了该材料。Cu-ZnO杂化薄膜具有出色的外延质量和奇异的光学特性，例如在可见光区的强局部表面等离振子共振，以及由角度依赖性和偏振分辨反射率测量所揭示的高度各向异性和双曲线光学响应。