Dramatic localized electromagnetic enhancement in plasmon resonant nanowires

• Published in: Chemical physics letters 2001-06, Vol.341 (1), p.1-6
• Main Authors: Kottmann, Jörg P., Martin, Olivier J.F., Smith, David R., Schultz, Sheldon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collective excitations (including excitons, polarons, plasmons and other charge-density excitations); Collective excitations (including plasmons and other charge-density excitations); Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Electron states and collective excitations in multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic, and nanoscale systems; Electron states and collective excitations in thin films, multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic and nanoscale systems; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Nanocrystals and nanoparticles; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of low-dimensional, mesoscopic, and nanoscale materials and structures; Physics; Surface and interface electron states
• ISSN: 0009-2614; 1873-4448
• DOI: 10.1016/S0009-2614(01)00171-3

We investigate numerically the plasmon resonances of 10–50 nm nanowires with a non-elliptical section. Such wires have a much more complex behavior than elliptical wires and their resonances span a larger frequency range. The field distribution at the surface of these wires exhibits a dramatic enhancement, up to several hundred times the incident field amplitude. These strongly localized fields can provide an important mechanism for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).