Multifunctional flexible Au electrodes based on one-dimensional (1D) arrays of plasmonic gratings are nanofabricated over large areas with an engineered variant of laser interference lithography optimized for low-cost transparent templates. Au nanostripe (NS) arrays achieve sheet resistance in the order of 20 Ohm/square on large areas (~ cm²) and are characterized by a strong and dichroic plasmonic response which can be easily tuned across the visible (VIS) to near-infrared (NIR) spectral range by tailoring their cross-sectional morphology. Stacking vertically a second nanostripe, separated by a nanometer scale dielectric gap, we form near-field coupled Au/SiO₂/Au dimers which feature hybridization of their localized plasmon resonances, strong local field-enhancements and a redshift of the resonance towards the NIR range. The possibility to combine excellent transport properties and optical transparency on the same plasmonic metasurface template is appealing in applications where low-energy photon management is mandatory like e.g., in plasmon enhanced spectroscopies or in photon harvesting for ultrathin photovoltaic devices. The remarkable lateral order of the plasmonic NS gratings provides an additional degree of freedom for tailoring the optical response of the multifunctional electrodes via the excitation of surface lattice resonances, a Fano-like coupling between the broad localised plasmonic resonances and the collective sharp Rayleigh modes.

The engineering of self-organized plasmonic metasurfaces is demonstrated using a maskless technique with defocused ion-beam sputtering and kinetically controlled deposition. The proposed reliable, cost-effective, and controllable approach enables large-area (order of square centimeter) sub-wavelength periodic patterning with close-packed gold nanostrips. A multi-level variant of the method leads to high-resolution manufacturing of vertically stacked nanostrip dimer arrays, without resorting to lithographic approaches. The design of these self-organized metasurfaces is optimized by employing plasmon hybridization methods. In particular, preliminary results on the so-called gap-plasmon configuration of the nanostrip dimers, implementing magnetic dipole resonance in the near-infrared range, are reported. This resonance offers a superior sensitivity and field enhancement, compared with the more conventional electric dipole resonance. The translational invariance of the nanostrip configuration leads to a high filling factor of the hot spots. These advanced features make the large-area metasurface based on gap-plasmon nanostrip dimers very attractive for surface-enhanced linear and nonlinear spectroscopy (e.g., surface-enhanced Raman scattering) and plasmon-enhanced photon harvesting in solar and photovoltaic cells.