Interaction between plasmonic nanoparticles revisited with transformation optics

The interaction between plasmonic nanoparticles is investigated by means of transformation optics. The optical response of a dimer can be decomposed as a sum of modes whose resonances redshift when the nanoparticles approach each other. The extinction and scattering cross sections as well as the field enhancement induced by the dimer are derived analytically taking into account radiation damping. Interestingly, some invisibility dips occur in the scattering spectrum and originate from a destructive interference between each surface plasmon mode.     

The properties of helium atoms and as impurities in metals

When the atoms of simple metals condense from the gas phase to give a solid, the valence electron wavefunctions are strongly modified by their overlap. At first sight this strong overlap might be expected to produce a complex situation, difficult to treat quantitatively. Yet the simple metals are perhaps the best understood of all solids and the reason is that the electron wavefunctions are plane-wave-like to a first approximation and deviations can be treated by perturbation theory.     

Guiding, focusing, and sensing on the subwavelength scale using metallic wire arrays

We show that tapered arrays of thin metallic wires can manipulate electromagnetic fields on the subwavelength spatial scale. Two types of nanoscale imaging applications using terahertz and midinfrared waves are enabled: image magnification and radiation focusing. First, the tapered wire array acts as a multipixel TEM endoscope by capturing an electromagnetic field profile created by deeply subwavelength objects at the endoscope's tip and magnifying it for observation. Second, the image of a large mask at the endoscope's base is projected onto a much smaller image at the tip.     

Evanescently coupled resonance in surface plasmon enhanced transmission

The optical transmission through subwavelength holes in metal films can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude by enabling interaction of the incident light with independent surface plasmon (SP) modes on either side of the film. Here, we show that this transmission is boosted by an additional factor of 10 when the energies of the SP modes on both sides are matched. These results, confirmed by a three-dimensional theoretical analysis, give a totally new understanding of the phenomenon of SP enhanced transmission. It is found that the holes behave like subwavelength cavities for the evanescent waves coupling the SPs on either side of the film. In this unusual device, the reflection at either end of the cavity is provided by the SP modes which act as frequency dependent mirrors.     

Negative refraction

Light bends the wrong way in materials where both ε and μ are negative as was pointed out in 1968, but the absence of natural materials with this property led to neglect of the subject until 1999 when it was shown how to make artificial materials, metamaterials, with negative μ. The rapid advance of the subject since that date, both in theory and experiment, is reflected in the exponential growth of publications now at the 200 per year level and still growing. This interest is explained by the sudden availability of a qualitatively different class of electromagnetic materials combined with the quite startling properties which these materials appear to have; all of which provokes debate as each new facet of their behaviour is revealed. Experiment has been vital to resolution of controversy and has chiefly been in the microwave region of the spectrum though there is potential in the optical region currently being explored by several groups.     

Negative refraction makes a perfect lens

With a conventional lens sharpness of the image is always limited by the wavelength of light. An unconventional alternative to a lens, a slab of negative refractive index material, has the power to focus all Fourier components of a 2D image, even those that do not propagate in a radiative manner. Such "superlenses" can be realized in the microwave band with current technology. Our simulations show that a version of the lens operating at the frequency of visible light can be realized in the form of a thin slab of silver. This optical version resolves objects only a few nanometers across.     

Low energy electron diffraction from Na(110) and Na2O(111) surfaces

Surfaces ofNa(110) are grown, investigated and oxidised to give Na₂O(111) surfaces. LEED spectra are taken for these surfaces and compared with theory to determine the surface composition of sodium oxide: the surface terminates the crystal in an integral number of electrically neutral NaONa sandwiches, with a bulk-like inter layer spacing. The effective Debye temperature for the Na(110) surface was found to be 107 K.