Fabrication of optical magnetic mirrors using bent and mushroom-like carbon nanotubes

Fabrication of an optical magnetic mirror using carbon nanotube-based 3-dimensional nano-structures is reported. Carbon nanostructures were grown in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition reactor on Ni catalyst islands using a mixture of C₂H₂ and H₂ gases. Bent carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with a controllable bending angle were obtained by changing the direction of the electrical field of the applied plasma. Mushroom-like carbon nanostructures with a high-impedance surface were obtained by deposition of a gold layer on vertically grown CNTs using a sputtering system. Phase shift measurements of the fabricated nanostructured surfaces were carried out by an interferometer setup. Phase differences between the incident beam on the as-prepared surfaces and the reflected beam from them were found to be almost zero, indicating that the direction of the electric field had not been changed upon reflection. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used for morphological study of the prepared samples.