Extrinsic Polarization‐Enabled Covert Plasmonic Colors Using Aluminum Nanostructures

Abstract

Subwavelength structures can provide a versatile platform for displaying various colors. Here, a reflection‐type approach to structural colors enabled by an extrinsic polarization‐dependent plasmonic resonance using aluminum nanohole arrays is presented theoretically. Usually, nanohole arrays with small hole sizes support whitish structural colors due to the narrow‐band reflection dip and high‐reflection nonresonant background. Interestingly, the lineshape of the resonance can be converted from a reflection dip with a high background to a reflection peak with negligible background using a pair of linear polarizers to select the polarization states of the incident light and the detected signal. Therefore, the resultant colors can be switched between whitish colors and vibrant colors, which are covert and overt under a white lighting condition, respectively. Due to the huge contrast between the two types of colors, this approach provides a novel scheme for the development of security‐related color labels.