Substrate-mediated plasmon hybridization toward high-performance light trapping

High-performance light trapping in metamaterials and metasurfaces offers prospects for the integration of multifunctional photonic components at subwavelength scales. However, constructing these nanodevices with reduced optical losses remains an open challenge in nanophotonics. Herein, we design and fabricate aluminum-shell-dielectric gratings by integrating low-loss aluminum materials with metal-dielectric-metal designs for high-performance light trapping featuring nearly perfect light absorption with broadband and large angular tuning ranges. The mechanism governing these phenomena is identified as the occurrence of substrate-mediated plasmon hybridization that allows energy trapping and redistribution in engineered substrates. Furthermore, we strive to develop an ultrasensitive nonlinear optical method, namely, plasmon-enhanced second-harmonic generation (PESHG), to quantify the energy transfer from metal to dielectric components. Our studies may provide a mechanism for expanding the potential of aluminum-based systems in practical applications.