biostudies-literatureUnknown8(1)Wang JHierarchical nanostructures are ideal architectures to harvest solar energy. The understanding of light absorption in single hierarchical structures is emergently important and greatly helpful in enhancing multiscale optical phenomena and light management. However, due to the geometrical complexity of hierarchical architectures, theoretical and experimental studies of light absorption have faced significant challenges. Here, we directly quantify light absorption in single hierarchical structures for the first time by utilizing VO₂-based near field powermeter. It is found that light trapping is significantly enhanced in rough microwires when the roughness amplitude is comparable to the incident light wavelength. The roughness enhanced light absorption is verified as a general pheScientific reports12283https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC6095879biostudies-literatureDirectly Probing Light Absorption Enhancement of Single Hierarchical Structures with Engineered Surface Roughness.PMC6095879Cheng CChen PShi RCai NAmini AWang WKong DWang JfalseDirectly Probing Light Absorption Enhancement of Single Hierarchical Structures with Engineered Surface Roughness.Hierarchical nanostructures are ideal architectures to harvest solar energy. The understanding of light absorption in single hierarchical structures is emergently important and greatly helpful in enhancing multiscale optical phenomena and light management. However, due to the geometrical complexity of hierarchical architectures, theoretical and experimental studies of light absorption have faced significant challenges. Here, we directly quantify light absorption in single hierarchical structures for the first time by utilizing VO₂-based near field powermeter. It is found that light trapping is significantly enhanced in rough microwires when the roughness amplitude is comparable to the incident light wavelength. The roughness enhanced light absorption is verified as a general phe2018-01-01T00:00:00Z2018 Aug2025-04-21T17:44:08.733Z2019-03-26T23:51:46ZS-EPMC60958793011593710.1038/s41598-018-29652-8