Figure 6.

(a) Calculated reflection from a silicon substrate that is covered with a dielectric spacer (ϵ = 1.69) of various thicknesses and a layer made from a 20 nm thick gold nanocomposite. The solid lines are calculated by means of a transfer matrix algorithm, where the composite has been considered in terms of effective properties. The associated stars are the results from rigorous FDTD simulations taking the plasmonic nanocomposite fully into account; (b) for referential purpose we also show the reflectance from the silicon substrate with the nanocomposite alone and with only a dielectric spacer of thickness of 70 nm.