Simple analytical approach to the analysis of plasmonic phenomena in dome-shaped protrusions and depressions on metal surfaces

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple analytical model for analyzing plasmonic effects in nanoscale dome-shaped defects on metal surfaces, enabling efficient calculations of near-fields and resonant properties relevant to plasmonic device development.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel analytical approach that accurately models plasmonic phenomena in dome-shaped surface defects, incorporating defect geometry and light parameters within the electrostatic approximation.

Findings

Analytical model accurately predicts polarization charge density and near-fields.

Model validated against full-wave numerical simulations.

Applicable to design of plasmonic devices and light manipulation systems.

Abstract

A simple and efficient analytical model is proposed for analyzing plasmonic phenomena arising in nanoscale defects on metal surfaces, specifically low aspect ratio dome-shaped protrusions and depressions. The model enables the calculation, using a straightforward formula, of the polarization charge density on the defect surface and its associated plasmonic near-field, accurately accounting for the defect geometry and incident light wave parameters. It further effectively incorporates the resonant properties of the defects within the electrostatic approximation, making it possible to calculate the correction to the Born approximation for the defect dipole moment. The analytical results obtained under the electrostatic approximation are validated through full-wave numerical simulations utilizing the finite element method. The proposed analytical approach will be valuable for modeling diverse phenomena pertinent to the development of guided-wave plasmonic devices, micro- and nanoscale light manipulation devices, metamaterials, and hybrid optoelectronic circuits, as well as for addressing light scattering problems, especially those involving surface plasmon polariton waves.