Light scattering by arrays of gold nanospheres and nanoellipsoids

In this paper, light scattering by a chain of nanoparticles of different shapes including spheres and ellipsoids is investigated. Characterized by surface plasmon resonances of metallic nanoparticles, these structures could behave like nanoantenna and they have potential practical applications in the microscopy, spectroscopy, and optoelectronic devices. As a result, they have drawn increasing interests in theoretical studies and experimental characterisations of the near-field properties of nanoparticles in the optical range. Based on the discussions on dielectric constant and the simulations of fields around spherical and ellipsoidal scatterers using plane wave excitation, various characteristics of the magnitudes of the scatter filed, the light intensities, power densities and energy densities are studied in the near-field region. Figures are proposed as an intuitive interpretation for better understanding in a microscopic view. The results are expected to be useful for studies on the local field enhancement properties of nanoantennas working in the optical region as well as the fundamentals of electromagnetic inverse problem.