Radiation damping in metal nanoparticle pairs

The radiation damping rate of plasmon resonances in pairs of spherical gold nanoparticles is calculated. The radiative line width of the plasmon resonance indicates significant far-field coupling between the nanoparticles over distances many times the particle diameter. The radiation damping of the coupled particle-plasmon mode alternates between superradiant and subradiant behavior when the particle spacing is varied. At small particle spacings where near-field coupling occurs, the radiation damping rate lies far below that of an isolated particle.