Polarization effects in the linear and nonlinear optical responses of gold nanoparticle arrays

We summarize our work on polarization effects in arrays of low-symmetry L-shaped gold nanoparticles. A collection of experiments used to characterize both the linear and second-order optical responses of the arrays is discussed. The responses of the arrays are found to be exceptionally sensitive to polarization. This sensitivity is determined to arise from structural properties including particle size, shape, spacing, and orientation. Nonlinear polarization measurements are shown to yield unexpected and very interesting information concerning the symmetry of the nanoparticle arrays. The combined linear and nonlinear results confirm that the smallest details of arrays influence optical responses.