Metallic oriented nanowires films for infrared radiation manipulation

We developed a numerical method to model the infrared spectral properties of metal nanowires on a flat substrate. Homogenization techniques and the transfer matrix method for birefringent layered materials are merged together so as to obtain a simple but effective tool for tailoring and optimizing the infrared properties of the resulting system. Different in-plane orientations can be investigated, ranging from randomly to perfectly aligned nanowires. Furthermore, the model allows the introduction of an off-plane tilt of the nanowires axes, thus increasing designing options. Possible applications such as broad band infrared polarizers, polarizing beam splitter and polariza- tion rotators are discussed