Resonant surface plasmons of a metal nanosphere can be considered in the way of propagating surface plasmons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that resonant surface plasmons on metal nanospheres can be modeled as propagating surface plasmon waves, based on Mie theory simulations showing their dispersion relations match those on a flat interface.

Contribution

It introduces a new perspective by treating nanosphere resonant plasmons as propagating waves, supported by simulation evidence.

Findings

Dispersion relations of nanosphere plasmons match flat interface plasmons

Resonant surface plasmons can be considered as propagating waves

Mie theory simulations support the new model

Abstract

Assuming that the resonant surface plasmons on a spherical nanoparticle is formed by standing waves of two counter-propagating surface plasmon waves along the surface, by using Mie theory simulation, we find that the dispersions of surface plasmon resonant modes supported by silver nanospheres match that of the surface plasmons on a semi-infinite medium-silver interface very well. This suggests that the resonant surface plasmons of a metal nanosphere can be treated as a propagating surface plasmon wave.