Controlling Fano lineshapes in plasmon-mediated light coupling into a substrate

Metal nanoparticles are efficient resonant plasmonic scatterers for light, and, if placed on top of a high-index substrate, can efficiently couple light into the substrate. This coupling, however, strongly depends on particle shape and surrounding environment. We study the effect of particle shape and substrate refractive index on the plasmonic resonances of silver nanoparticles and we systematically relate this to the efficiency of light scattering into a substrate. The light coupling spectra are dominated by Fano resonances for the corresponding dipolar and quadrupolar scattering modes. Varying the particle shape from spherical to cylindrical leads to large shifts in the Fano resonance for the dipolar mode, reducing the light incoupling integrated over the AM1.5 spectral range. Using a dielectric spacer layer, good light coupling is achieved for cylinders in the near-infrared. An asymmetric environment around the particles turns quadrupolar resonances into efficient radiators as well. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America