Nanoparticle arrays: From magnetic response to coupled plasmon resonances

We study optical properties of optomagnetic metamaterials consisting of regular arrays of single and double Au nanodots (nanopillars). Using a combination of data from variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry, transmission, and reflection measurements, we identify localized plasmon resonances of gold nanodots and measure their dependence on dot size and substrate type. We demonstrate that arrays of Au nanopillars can support narrow collective plasmon resonances coupled to in-plane and out-of-plane localized plasmon resonances. The spectral positions of these plasmon modes are extracted from the angular dependence of the transmission and reflection spectra for two beam polarizations. We show that nanoarrays exhibit dramatically different optical response on conductive and nonconductive substrates and study its angular dependence. The optical response of nanoarrays is described well by coupled dipole approximation. The procedure for extracting optical constants of metamaterials based on ellipsometry is discussed and applied to our samples resulting in a calculated negative index of refraction for double-dot arrays at green light.