Optical response of linear chains of metal nanospheres and nanospheroids

A semi-analytical method for computing the electric field surrounding a finite linear chain of metal nanospheres and nanospheroids is described. In treating chains or clusters of spheres, a common approach is to use the spherical-harmonic addition theorem to relate the multipole expansion coefficients between different spheres. A method is described here that avoids the use of spherical-harmonic addition theorems, which are not applicable to spheroidal chains. Simulations are given that illustrate the large field enhancements that can occur in the gaps between silver nanoparticles arising from plasmon resonances. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America