Direct near-field optical imaging of plasmonic resonances in metal nanoparticle pairs

In this paper we investigate the near-field optical behavior of plasmon coupling in gold nanoparticle pairs. In particular, by performing series measurements through a fiber-collection mode near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM), we directly observed the localized electromagnetic (EM) field distribution between two nanospheres is sensitively depended on the incident polarization and interparticle distance. The qualitative near-field observation and quantitative analysis facilitate more understanding of localized hot spots in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), and nano-applications in selectively controlling the spatial distribution of localized surface plasmon (SP) modes on a fabricated nanostructure by adjusting the polarization direction. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America