Preparation and optical properties of Cu nanowire in mica template

Nanopores with diameters between 30 nm and 180 nm have been fabricated by inducing latent track with fast heavy ions and etching process in 25 μm thick, singlecrystal muscovite mica. For short etching time, the nanopores are columns with circular cross section. For long etching time the cross section of nanopores becomes rhombic. Thus the shape of nanopores depends on the etching time. Cu nanowires have been fabricated with controlled dimensions by electrodeposition into the nanopores. The ultravioletvisible light absorption spectra of Cu nanowires embedded in mica templates show that the circular Cu nanowires with diameter smaller than 60 nm exhibit one intense resonance peak and one smaller peak. With increasing diameter of the nanowires， the intense peak is redshifted while the smaller peak strengthens gradually. The diameter and shape can tune the optical properties of Cu nanowires. The morphology and crystallinity of the Cu nanowires were studied by means of scanning electron microscopy and Xray diffraction.