Plasmonic spectroscopy of 2D densely packed and layered metallic nanostructures

Abstract

This chapter is an overview of size and concentration effects on electrodynamic coupling in two-dimensional densely packed arrays of metallic nanospheres in the frequency range of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Our theoretical analysis is based on the statistical theory of multiple scattering of waves. We show that concentration effects, such as the enhanced long-wavelength transmission of light and the strong resonance quenching of transmission, are effectively interpreted in terms of constructive and destructive interference of waves incident on and scattered by a monolayer of closely-packed submicrometer plasmonic particles. The concentration SPR red shift observed in the case of dipole metal nanoparticles is highly sensitive to the matrix refractive index and results from lateral near-field couplings. We also demonstrate phenomena caused by a strong plasmonic-photonic confinement in multilayered metal-dielectric nanostructures consisting of densely packed monolayers. For example, we show that employing the size and/or concentration gradient of dipole metallic nanoparticles in a quarter-wavelength multilayered system allows one to achieve an almost total absorbance. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011.