The effect of gain and absorption on surface plasmons in metal nanoparticles

The compensation of loss in metal by gain in interfacing dielectric has been demonstrated in a mixture of aggregated silver nanoparticles and rhodamine 6G dye. An increase of the quality factor of surface plasmon (SP) resonance was evidenced by the sixfold enhancement of Rayleigh scattering. The compensation of plasmonic losses with gain enables a host of new applications for metallic nanostructures, including low- or no-loss negative-index metamaterials. We have also predicted and experimentally observed a suppression of SP resonance in metallic nanoparticles embedded in dielectric host with absorption.