PLASMONIC ENHANCEMENT OF OPTICAL PROPERTIES BY ISOLATED AND COUPLED METAL NANOPARTICLES

In this chapter we present a simple and comprehensive explanation of the mechanisms that can so dramatically modify the optical properties of atoms, molecules, or other quantum-size objects placed in the vicinity of metal nanoparticles. We develop a simple model that describes surface plasmon modes supported by the metal nanoparticles and describes them using just three key parameters - effective volume, Q-factor, and radiative decay rate. We subsequently apply this model to the tasks of estimating the enhancement of optical radiation, electroluminescence, and photoluminescence absorbed or emitted by the optically active objects in the presence of an isolated single nanoparticle. Using the example of gold nanospheres embedded in GaN dielectric, we show that enhancement for each case depends strongly on the nanoparticle size enabling optimization for each combination of absorption cross section, original radiative efficiency, and separation between the object and metal sphere. We then expand the model for single metal nanoparticles to coupled metal nanostructures. We show that complex structures can be treated as coupled multipole modes with highest enhancements obtained due to the superposition of these modes mainly in small particles. This model allows for optimization of the structures for the largest possible field enhancements, which depends on the quality factor Q of the metal and can be as high as Q2 for two spherical particles. The “hot spot” can occur either in the nano-gaps between the particles or near the smaller particles. We trace the optimal field enhancement mechanism to the fact that the extended dipole modes of larger particles act as the efficient antennas while the modes in the gaps or near the smaller particles act as the compact sub-wavelength cavities. The physically-transparent, comprehensive analytical approach developed in this chapter not only offers a quick route for optimization but also can be conveniently extended to incorporate large numbers of particles in various complex arrangements.