Near-field excitation of nanoantenna resonance

An array of paired elliptic nanoparticles designed to enhance local fields around the particle pair is fabricated with gold embedded in quartz. Light excites a coupled plasmon resonance in the particle pair and the system acts like a plasmonic nanoantenna providing an enhanced electromagnetic field. Near-field scanning optical microscopy and finite element modeling are used to study the local field effects of the nanoantenna system. Local illumination shows similar resonant properties as plane wave illumination: a strong, localized optical resonance for light polarized parallel to the main, center-to-center axis. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.