Plasmonic Resonances and Electromagnetic Forces Between Coupled Silver Nanowires

TL;DR

This paper investigates how plasmonic resonances in coupled silver nanowires significantly enhance electromagnetic forces, using numerical solutions of Maxwell's equations to analyze the effects at different wavelengths and separations.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed numerical analysis of electromagnetic forces between coupled nanowires considering complex geometries and resonance effects, advancing understanding of nanoscale plasmonic interactions.

Findings

Resonance causes significant force enhancement between nanowires

Force magnitude varies with wavelength and separation distance

Numerical solutions effectively model electromagnetic responses

Abstract

We compute the electromagnetic response and corresponding forces between two silver nanowires. The wires are illuminated by a plane wave which has the electric field vector perpendicular to the axis of the wires, insuring that plasmonic resonances can be excited. We consider a nontrivial square cross section geometry that has dimensions on the order of $0.1 \lambda$, where $\lambda$ is the wavelength of the incident electromagnetic field. We find that due to the plasmonic resonance, there occurs great enhancement of the direct and mutual electromagnetic forces that are exerted on the nanowires. The Lippman-Schwinger volume integral equation is implemented to obtain solutions to Maxwell's equations for various $\lambda$ and separation distances between wires. The forces are computed using Maxwell's stress tensor and numerical results are shown for both on and off resonant conditions.