We consider the effect of electromagnetic coupling between localized surface plasmons in a metallic nanoparticle (NP) and excitons or weakly interacting electron-hole pairs in a semiconductor matrix where the NP is embedded. An expression is derived for the NP polarizability renormalized by this coupling and two possible situations are analyzed, both compatable with the conditions for Fano-type resonances: (i) a narrow bound exciton transition overlapping with the NP surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and (ii) SPR overlapping with a parabolic absorption band due to electron-hole transitions in the semiconductor. The absorption band lineshape is strongly non-Lorentzian in both cases and similar to the typical Fano spectrum in the case (i). However, it looks differently in the situation (ii) that takes place for gold NPs embedded in a CuO film and the use of the renormalized polarizability derived in this work permits to obtain a very good fit to the experimentally measured LSPR lineshape.
Hot carriers produced from the decay of localized surface plasmons in metallic nanoparticles are intensely studied because of their optoelectronic, photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications. From a classical perspective, plasmons are coherent oscillations of the electrons in the nanoparticle, but their quantized nature comes to the fore in the novel field of quantum plasmonics. In this work, we introduce a quantum-mechanical material-specific approach for describing the decay of single quantized plasmons into hot electrons and holes. We find that hot carrier generation rates differ signific…
In this letter, we address the thermal processes occurring in plasmonic nanoparticles. We determine constrains imposed upon the plasmonic excitation in such nanoparticle by the resulting heat generation. Taking into account temperature dependence of the metal losses, we predict the existence of the critical number of plasmons in the nanoparticle. We also allow for the temperature dependencies of the thermal-conductivity coefficient of the environment and the Kapitza heat boundary resistance. We show that the latter can dominate the overall heat resistance in the system. Strength limitations ca…
The surface plasmon oscillations spectra in noble metal nanoparticles - rods and spheroids embedded in a host matrix is analyzed theoretically. The important role of - electrons in formation of surface plasmon resonances is shown. A simple model is developed to describe the surface plasmons in nanorods. It is shown, that both for nanorods and spheroids the surface plasmon resonance wavelengths are linearly dependent on aspect ratios of these particles. The results of calculations are compared with experimental data for gold and silver particles and excellent agreement is demonstrated.
The temperature dependences of the energy and the width of a surface plasmon resonance are studied for copper nanoparticles 17 - 59 nm in size in the silica host matrix in the temperature interval 293 - 460 K. An increase of the temperature leads to the red shift and the broadening of the surface plasmon resonance in Cu nanoparticles. The obtained dependences are analyzed within the framework of a theoretical model considering the thermal expansion of a nanoparticle, the electron-phonon scattering in a nanoparticle, and the temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity of the host matr…
We develop a general quantum theory of the coupled plasmonic modes resulting from the near-field interaction between localized surface plasmons in a heterogeneous metallic nanoparticle dimer. In particular, we provide analytical expressions for the frequencies and decay rates of the bright and dark plasmonic modes. We show that, for sufficiently small nanoparticles, the main decay channel for the dark plasmonic mode, which is weakly coupled to light and, hence, immune to radiation damping, is of nonradiative origin and corresponds to Landau damping, i.e., decay into electron-hole pairs.
We develop a non-local dielectric response theory to describe the temperature dependence of exciton lifetime in metal-semiconductor heterostructures. Coupling between excitons and surface plasmons results in a strongly nonmonotonous behaviour of exciton radiative decay rate versus temperature. Tuning the plasmon frequency one can control the efficiency of exciton emission of light.
The plasmon-enhanced second harmonic generation in the subwavelength neutral metal cubic nanoparticles is calculated for the first time in the hydrodynamic and cold plasma approximations. The theory is developed that takes into account all singularities of the electromagnetic field at the cubic nanoparticle surface. The results are compared to the linear case for the nanocube and to those for a spherical nanoparticle. In the latter case, they demonstrate very strong enhancement of the local field strength and the second harmonic signal.
We study the Landau damping of the surface plasmon resonance of metallic nanoparticles embedded in different environments of experimental relevance. Important oscillations of the plasmon linewidth as a function of the radius of the nanoparticles are obtained from numerical calculations based on the time dependent local density approximation. These size-oscillations are understood, within a semiclassical approximation, as a consequence of correlations in the spectral density of the nanoparticles. We treat inert matrices, as well as the case with an unoccupied conduction band. In the latter case…
Electron beam imaging is a common technique used for characterizing the morphology of plasmonic nanostructures. During the imaging process, the electron beam interacts with traces of organic material in the chamber and produces a well-know layer of amorphous carbon over the specimen under investigation. In this paper, we investigate the effect of this carbon adsorbate on the spectral position of the surface plasmon in individual gold nanoparticles as a function of electron exposure dose. We find an optimum dose for which the plasmonic response of the nanoparticle is not affected by the imaging…
We predict the electromagnetic field driven nucleation of nanoparticles that provide plasmonic oscillations in resonance with the field frequency. The oscillations assume a phase that maximizes the particle polarization and energy gain due to nucleation. We derive closed form expressions for the corresponding nucleation barrier and particle shape vs. field frequency and strength, metal plasma frequency, conductivity, and the host dielectric permittivity. We show that the plasmonic polarization allows for nucleation of particles that would not be stable in zero field.
The quantum confinement of Rydberg excitons is an important step towards exploiting their large nonlinearities for quantum applications. We observe Rydberg excitons in natural nanoparticles of Cu$_2$O. We resolve up to the principal quantum number $n=12$ in a bulk Cu$_2$O crystal and up to $n=6$ in nanoparticles extracted from the same crystal. The exciton transitions in nanoparticles are broadened and their oscillator strengths decrease as $\propto n^{-4}$ compared to those in the bulk (decreasing as $\propto n^{-3}$). We explain our results by including the effect of quantum confinement of e…
We report the enhancement of the optical second harmonic signal in non-centrosymmetric semiconductor CdS quantum dots, when they are placed in close contact with isolated silver nanoparticles. The intensity enhancement is about 1000. We also show that the enhancement increases when the incoming laser frequency $ω$ is tuned toward the spectral position of the silver plasmon at $2ω$, proving that the silver nanoparticle modifies the nonlinear emission.
Here, extending our previous work on this topic, we derive a dynamic closed-form dispersion relation for a rigorous analysis of guided wave propagation along coupled parallel linear arrays of plasmonic nanoparticles, operating as optical 'two-line' waveguides. Compared to linear arrays of nanoparticles, our results suggest that these waveguides may support longer propagation lengths and more confined beams, operating analogously to transmission-line segments at lower frequencies. Our formulation fully takes into account the whole dynamic interaction among the infinite number of nanoparticles c…
We study theoretically the interactions of excitonic states with surface electromagnetic modes of small-diameter (~1 nm) semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes. We show that these interactions can result in strong exciton-surface-plasmon coupling. The exciton absorption lineshapes exhibit the line (Rabi) splitting $~0.1-0.3$ eV as the exciton energy is tuned to the nearest interband surface plasmon resonance of the nanotube. We expect this effect to open a path to new optoelectronic device applications of semiconducting carbon nanotubes.
We calculate the dispersion relations of plasmonic waves propagating along a chain of metallic nanoparticles in the presence of both a static magnetic field ${\bf B}$ and a liquid crystalline host. The dispersion relations are obtained using the quasistatic approximation and a dipole-dipole approximation to treat the interaction between surface plasmons on different nanoparticles. For a plasmons propagating along a particle chain in a nematic liquid crystalline host and a field parallel to the chain, we find a small, but finite, Faraday rotation angle. In a cholesteric liquid crystal host and …
We study theoretically the interactions of excitonic states with surface electromagnetic modes of small-diameter (~1 nm) semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes. We show that these interactions can result in strong exciton-surface-plasmon coupling. The exciton absorption line shape exhibits Rabi splitting ~0.1 eV as the exciton energy is tuned to the nearest interband surface plasmon resonance of the nanotube. We also show that the quantum confined Stark effect may be used as a tool to control the exciton binding energy and the nanotube band gap in carbon nanotubes in order, e.g., to bri…
The kinetic approach is applied to calculate oscillations of a surface plasmon linewidth in a spheroidal metal nanoparticle embedded in any dielectric media. The principal attention is focused on the case, when the free electron path is much greater than the particle size. The linewidth of the plasmon resonance as a function of the particle radius, shape, dielectric constant of the surrounding medium, and the light frequency is studied in detail. It is found that the resonance plasmon linewidth oscillates with increasing both the particle size and the dielectric constant of surrounding medium.…
Plasmonic nanocrystals with hot spots are able to localize optical energy in small spaces. In such physical systems, near-field interactions between molecules and plasmons can become especially strong. This paper considers the case of a nanoparticle dimer and a chiral biomolecule. In our model, a chiral molecule is placed in the gap between two plasmonic nanoparticles, where the electromagnetic hot spot occurs. Since many important biomolecules have optical transitions in the UV, we consider the case of Aluminum nanoparticles, as they offer strong electromagnetic enhancements in the blue and U…
The local field approach and kinetic equation method is applied to calculate the surface plasmon radiative damping in a spheroidal metal nanoparticle embedded in any dielectric media. The radiative damping of the surface plasmon resonance as a function of the particle radius, shape, dielectric constant of the surrounding medium and the light frequency is studied in detail. It is found that the radiative damping grows quadratically with the particle radius and oscillates with altering both the particle size and the dielectric constant of a surrounding medium. Much attention is paid to the elect…
Raza et al. recently observed the extraordinarily large energy blueshifts of localized surface plasmon resonances and additional surface plasmon resonances in silver nanoparticles encapsulated in silicon nitride, which are not fully understood yet. By using the quantum model consisting of two subsystems respectively for describing the center of mass and intrinsic motions of conduction electrons of a metallic nanosphere and a coupling occurred between the center of mass and conduction electrons outside the metallic nanosphere, we firstly deduced the general energy and line broadening size-depen…
Chains of metallic nanoparticles sustain strongly confined surface plasmons with relatively low dielectric losses. To exploit these properties in applications,such as waveguides, the fabrication of long chains of low disorder and a thorough understanding of the plasmon-mode properties, such as dispersion relations, are indispensable. Here, we use a wrinkled template for directed self-assembly to assemble chains of gold nanoparticles. With this up-scalable method, chain lengths from two particles (140 nm) to 20 particles (1500 nm) and beyond can be fabricated. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy …
We study the linewidth of the surface plasmon resonance in the optical absorption spectrum of metallic nanoparticles, when the decay into electron-hole pairs is the dominant channel. Within a semiclassical approach, we find that the electron-hole density-density correlation oscillates as a function of the size of the particles, leading to oscillations of the linewidth. This result is confirmed numerically for alkali and noble metal particles. While the linewidth can increase strongly, the oscillations persist when the particles are embedded in a matrix.
The electronic environment causes decoherence and dissipation of the collective surface plasmon excitation in metallic nanoparticles. We show that the coupling to the electronic environment influences the width and the position of the surface plasmon resonance. A redshift with respect to the classical Mie frequency appears in addition to the one caused by the spill-out of the electronic density outside the nanoparticle. We characterize the spill-out effect by means of a semiclassical expansion and obtain its dependence on temperature and the size of the nanoparticle. We demonstrate that both, …
We consider a simple cubic array of metallic nanoparticles supporting extended collective plasmons that arise from the near-field dipolar interaction between localized surface plasmons in each nanoparticle. We develop a fully analytical quantum theory of the strong-coupling regime between these collective plasmons and photons resulting in plasmon polaritons in the nanoparticle array. Remarkably, we show that the polaritonic band gap and the dielectric function of the metamaterial can be significantly modulated by the polarization of light. We unveil how such an anisotropic behavior in the plas…
The concept of quantum plasmonic excitations in plasmonic lattices, which similarly to Frenkel excitons in molecular crystals propagate by hopping from one nanoparticle to another, is introduced. A consistent quantum theory of such plasmonic excitons, beginning with the quantization of localized surface plasmons in a metal nanoparticle and including the radiative relaxation in both 1D and 2D lattices near a reflective substrate surface, is developed. A possible room-temperature Bose-Einstein condensation in the quantum gas of plasmonic excitons is also discussed.
In a proposed book chapter surface plasmon polariton assisted optical switching in noble metal nanoparticle systems is discussed in the sub-band gap formalism.
We present a quantum mechanical approach to calculate broadening of plasmonic resonances in metallic nanostructures due to collisions of electrons with the surface of the structure. The approach is applicable if the characteristic size of the structure is much larger than the de Broglie electron wavelength in the metal. The approach can be used in studies of plasmonic properties of both single nanoparticles and arrays of nanoparticles.
We investigate the propagation of surface plasmons (SPPs) in a thin layer of copper surrounded by copper oxide Cu$_2$O. It is shown that particularly strong excitons in Cu$_2$O can have considerable impact on plasmon propagation, providing many opportunities for plasmon-exciton and plasmon-plasmon interactions. It is demonstrated that by the use of sufficiently thin metal layer, one can excite the so-called long range plasmons (LRSPPs) which can overcome the inherently high ohmic losses of Cu as compared to usual plasmonic metals such as silver. Analytical results are confirmed by numerical ca…
Transport properties of a single plasmon interacting with a hybrid system composed of a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) and a metal nanoparticle (MNP) coupled to one-dimensional surface plasmonic waveguide are investigated theoretically via the real-space approach. We considered that the MNP-SQD interaction leads to the formation of a hybrid exciton and the transmission and reflection of a single incident plasmon could be controlled by adjusting the frequency of the classical control field applied to the MNP-SQD hybrid nanosystem, the kinds of metallic nanoparticles and the background media, r…
We theoretically investigate plasmon polaritons in cubic lattices of spherical metallic nanoparticles. The nanoparticles, each supporting triply-degenerate localized surface plasmons, couple through the Coulomb dipole-dipole interaction, giving rise to collective plasmons that extend over the whole metamaterial. The latter hybridize with photons forming plasmon polaritons, which are the hybrid light-matter eigenmodes of the system. We derive general analytical expressions to evaluate both plasmon and plasmon-polariton dispersions, and the corresponding eigenstates. These are obtained within a …
For plasmonic nanoparticles, we investigate the influence of surface roughness inherent to top-down fabrication on the optical properties, and find that it has a surprisingly small influence on the position and width of the plasmon peaks. Our experimental observation is supported by simulations based on the boundary element method approach. Using a perturbation approach, suitable for metallic nanoparticles with a moderate degree of surface roughness, we demonstrate that the reason for this lies in motional narrowing where the plasmon averages over the random height fluctuations. Surface roughn…
The multi-scale computational method of combining first-principles calculation and finite element electromagnetic simulations is used to study plasmon-enhanced interlayer charge transfer (ICT) exciton of 2D lateral and van der Waals MoS2/WS2 heterostructure with 2H phase. The weak ICT excitons are observed in the 2H lateral and van der Waals MoS$_2$/WS$_2$ heterostructures. Theoretical results reveal the physical principle of plexciton resulting from strong coupling between plasmonic and ICT exciton. The weak CT exciton can be strongly enhanced by metal plasmon, can provide a new way to observ…
We study the topological edge plasmon modes between two "diatomic" chains of identical plasmonic nanoparticles. Zak phase for longitudinal plasmon modes in each chain is calculated analytically by solutions of macroscopic Maxwell's equations for particles in quasi-static dipole approximation. This approximation provides a direct analogy with the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model such that the eigenvalue is mapped to the frequency dependent inverse-polarizability of the nanoparticles. The edge state frequency is found to be the same as the single-particle resonance frequency, which is insensitive to t…
Optical properties of colloidal plasmonic titanium nitride nanoparticles are examined with an eye on their photothermal via transmission electron microscopy and optical transmittance measurements. Single crystal titanium nitride cubic nanoparticles with an average size of 50 nm exhibit plasmon resonance in the biological transparency window. With dimensions optimized for efficient cellular uptake, the nanoparticles demonstrate a high photothermal conversion efficiency. A self-passivating native oxide at the surface of the nanoparticles provides an additional degree of freedom for surface funct…
We predict nucleation of pancake shaped metallic nanoparticles having plasmonic frequencies in resonance with a non-absorbed circularly polarized electromagnetic field. We show that the same field can induce nucleation of randomly oriented needle shaped particles. The probabilities of these shapes are estimated vs. field frequency and strength, material parameters, and temperature. This constitutes a quantitative model of non-photochemical laser induced nucleation (NPLIN) consistent with the observed particle geometry. Our results open a venue to nucleation of nanoparticles of desirable shapes…
Plasmonic structures are known to support the modes with subwavelength volumes in which the field matter interactions are greatly enhanced. Coupling between the molecular excitations and plasmons leading to formation of plexcitons has been investigated for a number of organic molecules. However, plasmon-exciton coupling in metal semiconductor structures have not experienced the same degree of attention. In this work we show that the very strong coupling regime in which the Rabi energy exceeds the exciton binding energy is attainable in semiconductor cladded plasmonic nanoparticles and leads to…
The optical properties of metallic tin nanoparticles embedded in silicon-based host materials were studied. Thin films containing the nanoparticles were produced using RF magnetron sputtering followed by ex situ heat treatment. Transmission electron microscopy was used to determine the nanoparticle shape and size distribution; spherical, metallic tin nanoparticles were always found. The presence of a localized surface plasmon resonance in the nanoparticles was observed when SiO2 and amorphous silicon were the host materials. Optical spectroscopy revealed that the localized surface plasmon reso…
We study plasmon-exciton interaction by using topological singularities to spatially confine, selectively deliver, cotrap and optically probe colloidal semiconductor and plasmonic nanoparticles. The interaction is monitored in a single quantum system in the bulk of a liquid crystal medium where nanoparticles are manipulated and nanoconfined far from dielectric interfaces using laser tweezers and topological configurations are spatially colocated with a plasmonic gold nanoburst particle in a topological singularity core, its fluorescence increases because blinking is significantly suppressed an…
We present analytical expressions for the resonance frequencies of the plasmonic modes hosted in a cylindrical nanoparticle within the quasistatic approximation. Our theoretical model gives us access to both the longitudinally and transversally polarized dipolar modes for a metallic cylinder with an arbitrary aspect ratio, which allows us to capture the physics of both plasmonic nanodisks and nanowires. We also calculate quantum mechanical corrections to these resonance frequencies due to the spill-out effect, which is of relevance for cylinders with nanometric dimensions. We go on to consider…
The phase delay of a local electric field, being well-known in plasmonic nanostructures, has seldom been investigated to modulate the plasmon-exciton interaction. Here, with the single-particle spectroscopy method, we experimentally investigate the phase effect in plasmon-exciton coupling systems consisting of monolayer WSe2 and an individual gold nanorod. The local plasmon phase delay is tuned by adopting various nanorods with different resonant energies respective to the exciton. We find that the local plasmon phase delay between the excitons and the plasmonic modes is as equally essential a…
We present an approach to master the well-known challenge of calculating the contribution of d-bands to plasmon-induced hot carrier rates in metallic nanoparticles. We generalise the widely used spherical well model for the nanoparticle wavefunctions to flat d-bands using the envelope function technique. Using Fermi's golden rule, we calculate the generation rates of hot carriers after the decay of the plasmon due to transitions from either a d-band state to an sp-band state or from an sp-band state to another sp-band state. We apply this formalism to spherical silver nanoparticles with radii …
The effect of smooth shape changes of metallic nanoparticles on localized surface plasmon resonances is assessed with a boundary integral equation method. The boundary integral equation method allows compact expressions of nanoparticle polarizability which is expressed as an eigenmode sum of terms that depends on the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the integral operator associated to the boundary integral equation method. Shape variations change not only the eigenvalues but also their coupling weights to the electromagnetic field. Thus, rather small changes in the shape may induce large vari…
Active control of light-matter interactions in semiconductors is critical for realizing next generation optoelectronic devices, with tunable control of the systems optical properties via external fields. The ability to manipulate optical interactions in active materials coupled to cavities via geometrical parameters, which are fixed along with dynamic control with applied fields opens up possibilities of controlling exciton lifetimes, oscillator strengths and their relaxation properties. Here, we demonstrate electrical control of exciton-plasmon polariton coupling strength of a two-dimensional…
Shifting of the surface plasmon resonance wavelength induced by the variation of the thickness of insulating spacer between single layer graphene and Au nanoparticles is studied. The system demonstrates a blue shift of 29 nm as the thickness of the spacer layer increases from 0 to 15 nm. This is due to the electromagnetic coupling between the localized surface plasmons excited in the nanoparticles and the graphene film. The strength of the coupling decays exponentially with a decay length of d/R=0.36, where d is the spacer layer thickness and R is the diameter of the Au nanoparticles. The resu…
We consider a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice of metallic nanoparticles, each supporting a localized surface plasmon, and study the quantum properties of the collective plasmons resulting from the near field dipolar interaction between the nanoparticles. We analytically investigate the dispersion, the effective Hamiltonian and the eigenstates of the collective plasmons for an arbitrary orientation of the individual dipole moments. When the polarization points close to the normal to the plane the spectrum presents Dirac cones, similar to those present in the electronic band structure of graph…
Linear clusters made by tightly connecting two or more metallic nanoparticles have new types of surface plasmon resonances as compared to isolated nanoparticles. These new resonances are related to the size of the junction and to the number of interconnected particles and have direct interpretation as eigenmodes of a Boundary Integral Equation (BIE). This formulation allows effective separation of geometric and shape contribution from electric properties of the constituents. Results for particles covered by a thin shell are also provided. In addition, the present analysis sheds a new light on …
We study a bipartite linear chain constituted by spherical metallic nanoparticles, where each nanoparticle supports a localized surface plasmon. The near-field dipolar interaction between the localized surface plasmons gives rise to collective plasmons, which are extended over the whole nanoparticle array. We derive analytically the spectrum and the eigenstates of the collective plasmonic excitations. At the edge of the Brillouin zone, the spectrum is of a pseudorelativistic nature similar to that present in the electronic band structure of polyacetylene. We find the effective Dirac Hamiltonia…
We investigate the dynamics of photon echo exhibited by exciton-plasmon systems under strong coupling conditions. Using a self-consistent model based on coupled Maxwell-Bloch equations we investigate femtosecond time dynamics of ensembles of interacting molecules optically coupled to surface plasmon supporting materials. It is shown that observed photon echoes under two pulse pump-probe sequence are highly dependent on various material parameters such as molecular concentration and periodicity. Simulations of photon echoes in exciton-plasmon materials reveal a unique signature of the strong ex…
We develop a quantum theory of plasmon polaritons in chains of metallic nanoparticles, describing both near- and far-field interparticle distances, by including plasmon-photon Umklapp processes. Taking into account the retardation effects of the long-range dipole-dipole interaction between the nanoparticles, which are induced by the coupling of the plasmonic degrees of freedom to the photonic continuum, we reveal the polaritonic nature of the normal modes of the system. We compute the dispersion relation and radiative linewidth, as well as the group velocities of the eigenmodes, and compare ou…
Single-molecule surface enhanced Raman scattering (SM-SERS) is one of the vital applications of plasmonic nanoparticles. The SM-SERS sensitivity critically depends on plasmonic hot-spots created at the vicinity of such nanoparticles. In conventional fluid-phase SM-SERS experiments, plasmonic hot-spots are facilitated by chemical aggregation of nanoparticles. Such aggregation is usually irreversible, and hence, nanoparticles cannot be re-dispersed in the fluid for further use. Here, we show how to combine SM-SERS with plasmon-polariton assisted, reversible assembly of plasmonic nanoparticles at…
Plasmonic nanoarrays which support collective surface lattice resonances (SLRs) have become an exciting frontier in plasmonics. Compared with the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in individual particles, these collective modes have appealing advantages such as angle-dependent dispersions and much narrower linewidths. Here, we investigate systematically how the geometry of the lattice affects the SLRs supported by metallic nanoparticles. We present a general theoretical framework from which the various SLR modes of a given geometry can be straightforwardly obtained by a simple compari…
We investigate the collective plasmonic modes in a chain of metallic nanoparticles that are coupled by near-field interactions. The size- and momentum-dependent nonradiative Landau damping and radiative decay rates are calculated analytically within an open quantum system approach. These decay rates determine the excitation propagation along the chain. In particular, the behavior of the radiative decay rate as a function of the plasmon wavelength leads to a transition from an exponential decay of the collective excitation for short distances to an algebraic decay for large distances. Important…
We predict the simultaneous occurrence of two fundamental phenomena for metal nanoparticles possessing sharp corners: First, the main plasmonic dipolar mode experiences strong red shift with decreasing corner curvature radius; its resonant frequency is controlled by the apex angle of the corner and the normalized (to the particle size) corner curvature. Second, the split-off plasmonic mode experiences strong localization at the corners. Altogether, this paves the way for tailoring of metal nano-structures providing wavelength-selective excitation of localized plasmons and a strong near-field e…
The radiative decay of quantum dot (QD) excitons into surface plasmons in a cylindrical nanowire is investigated theoretically. Maxwell's equations with appropriate boundary conditions are solved numerically to obtain the dispersion relations of surface plasmons. The radiative decay rate of QD excitons is found to be greatly enhanced at certain values of the exciton bandgap. Analogous to the decay of a two-level atom in the photonic crystal, we first point out that such an enhanced phenomenon allows one to examine the non-Markovian dynamics of the QD exciton. Besides, due to the one dimensiona…