Plasmonic excitations in metallic nanoparticles: Resonances, dispersion characteristics and near-field patterns

Metamaterials acquire their functionality from the structuring of the small building blocks, artificial atoms. Our paper provides a study of the resonant behaviour for a variety of metallic nanoparticles in the region of hundreds of THz. Resonant modes for nanorods of rectangular cross section are investigated numerically for different types of excitation and the set of resonant frequencies (fundamental and higher order) are determined for rods of various length. From that the dispersion relationship for surface plasmon-polaritons propagating along the rod is deduced. We analyse resonant-mode near-field distribution of the electric field, including the field lines, to emphasise the underlying physics. Resonant frequencies are also found and field distributions analysed when the rods are combined to form particles of L, U and O shapes. The similarities and differences between those particles, both in the values and in the number of resonances, are discussed. The results of this study may aid the design of nanostructured metamaterials with required properties in the IR and optical domain. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America