Theory and Modeling of Plasmonic Structures

Plasmonic structures, or systems generally containing nanostructured metallic components allowing for the exploitation of surface plasmon resonances, continue to draw much experimental and theoretical interest. This is due to the ability of surface plasmons to capture, concentrate, and propagate optical energy. This Feature Article discusses the basic theoretical principles and computational modeling of such structures. A variety of illustrations are also given, including optical transmission by nanohole arrays in thin metal films, remote-grating generation of narrow band plasmons, the excitation of dark modes in bipyramidal nanoparticles, optical transparencies in nanoparticle–quantum dot systems, and the size dependence of surface plasmon resonances in the limit of very small particle sizes.