# Full-wave electromagnetic modes and hybridization in nanoparticle dimers

## TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive hybridization theory based on full Maxwell equations to accurately describe electromagnetic modes in nanoparticle dimers, overcoming limitations of previous electrostatic models.

## Contribution

It introduces a full-Maxwell based hybridization theory for dielectric and metallic nanoparticle dimers, including magnetic, retardation, and radiation effects.

## Key findings

- Decomposition of scattered fields into hybridized modes
- Identification of mode hybridization mechanisms
- Impact of gap size and excitation conditions

## Abstract

The plasmon hybridization theory is based on a quasi-electrostatic approximation of the Maxwell's equations. It does not take into account magnetic interactions, retardation effects, and radiation losses. Magnetic interactions play a dominant role in the scattering from dielectric nanoparticles. The retardation effects play a fundamental role in the coupling of the modes with the incident radiation and in determining their radiative strength; their exclusion may lead to erroneous predictions of the excited modes and of the scattered power spectra. Radiation losses may lead to a significant broadening of the scattering resonances. We propose a hybridization theory for non-hermitian composite systems based on the full-Maxwell equations that, overcoming all the limitations of the plasmon hybridization theory, unlocks the description of dielectric dimers. As an example, we decompose the scattered field from silicon and silver dimers, under different excitation conditions and gap-sizes, in terms of dimer modes, pinpointing the hybridizing isolated-sphere modes behind them.