Phenomena of radiation and focusing from chains of plasmonic nanoparticles

The goal of this work is to identify and study radiation phenomena supported in the optical regime by irregular chains of nano-sized particles. For instance, it is demonstrated that special nano-particle chain distributions can lead not only to highly directive fields in the far zone of the chain but also to radiation into fields focused in the near (Fresnel) zone. The presented ideas are anticipated to lead to a number of important applications including filters, lenses, subwavelength sensors and probes.