Lattice Resonances Excited by Finite-Width Light Beams

Abstract

Periodic arrays of metallic nanostructures support collective lattice resonances, which give rise to optical responses that are, at the same time, stronger and more spectrally narrow than those of the localized plasmons of the individual nanostructures. Despite the extensive research effort devoted to investigating the optical properties of lattice resonances, the majority of theoretical studies have analyzed them under plane-wave excitation conditions. Such analysis not only constitutes an approximation to realistic experimental conditions, which require the use of finite-width light beams, but also misses a rich variety of interesting behaviors. Here, we provide a comprehensive study of the response of periodic arrays of metallic nanostructures when excited by finite-width light beams under both paraxial and nonparaxial conditions. We show how as the width of the light beam increases, the response of the array becomes more collective and converges to the plane-wave limit. Furthermore, we analyze the spatial extent of the lattice resonance and identify the optimum values of the light beam width to achieve the strongest optical responses. We also investigate the impact that the combination of finite-size effects in the array and the finite width of the light beam has on the response of the system. Our results provide a solid theoretical framework to understand the excitation of lattice resonances by finite-width light beams and uncover a set of behaviors that do not take place under plane-wave excitation.