Responsive polymer networks and brushes for active plasmonics

Optical materials with actively tunable characteristics are attractive in various nanotechnology fields. This chapter focuses at metallic nanostructures designed for the manipulating with light at the nanoscale by the resonant excitation of surface plasmons ‐ coupled oscillations of charge density and respective electromagnetic field. The coupling of metallic nanostructures with responsive polymer brushes and polymer networks provides efficient means to reversibly control the resonant excitation of surface plasmons with external stimulus including light, temperature, pH, or current. Basic design rules of these structures for actuating their plasmonic properties by refractive index as well as near field coupling variations are discussed, and specific examples are provided.