Interaction of Surface Plasmon Polaritons with Nanomaterials

Abstract

Surface plasmon polaritons are the surface electromagnetic excitations that exist at the metal-air or metal-dielectric interface. Because of their enhanced field and strong confinement near the metal surface, they offer variety of applications ranging from high sensitivity sensors to miniaturized photonic components. In this chapter, we present analytical formalisms of several optical phenomenon that occur in their interaction with nanomaterials and analyze their significance in absorption, enhanced Raman scattering, electron acceleration, optical fiber sensors etc. First, we discuss dispersion properties of surface plasmon polaritons in single and double metal film configurations. The analysis is extended to the examination of dispersion properties of multilayer thin film configurations. We also present dispersion properties of surface plasmon polaritons in thin film metal coated optical fibers and develop an analytical formalism for the calculation of amplitude of the laser mode converted surface plasmon wave. The chapter also presents a theoretical model for surface plasmon polariton assisted electron acceleration in thin film metal configuration. Furthermore, surface plasmon polariton interactions with metallic nanoparticles are examined and analytical formalism of their anomalous absorption by nanoparticles is presented. In this context, we present surface plasmon assisted surface enhanced Raman scattering by the molecules when they are adsorbed on nanoparticles.