We present a fully analytical point scattering model that can be applied to arbitrary anisotropic magnetoelectric dipole scatterers, including split ring resonators (SRRs) and chiral and anisotropic plasmonic scatterers. We have taken proper account of reciprocity and radiation damping for electric and magnetic scatterers with any general polarizability tensor, including magnetoelectric interactions. Our theory sheds new light on the magnitude of cross sections for scattering and extinction, and, for instance, on the emergence of structural chirality in the optical response of geometrically nonchiral scatterers such as SRRs and SRR clusters. Specifically, we predict which observables in scattering experiments allow to fully quantify all components of the polarizability tensor of SRR’s, including their off-diagonal magnetoelectric response. Finally, we show that our model describes well the extinction of stereodimers of split rings, while providing a completely new interpretation of the coupling mechanisms underlying recent experiments

We report a new experimental technique for quantifying the angular distribution of light scattered by single plasmonic and metamaterial nanoscatterers, based on Fourier microscopy in a dark field confocal set up. This new set up is a necessary tool for quantifying the scattering properties of single plasmonic and meatamaterial building blocks, as well as small coupled clusters of such building blocks, which are expected to be the main ingredients of nano-antennas, light harvesting structures and transformation optics. We present a set of measurements on Au nanowires of different lengths and show how the radiation pattern of single Au nanowires evolve with wire length and as a function of driving polarization and wave vector.

Symmetric metal-dielectric guided-mode resonators (GMR) can operate as infrared band-pass filters, thanks to high-transmission resonant peaks and good rejection ratio. Starting from matrix formalism, we show that the behavior of the system can be described by a two-mode model. This model reduces to a scalar formula and the GMR is described as the combination of two independent Fabry-Perot resonators. The formalism has then been applied to the case of asymmetric GMR, in order to restore the properties of the symmetric system. This result allows designing GMR-on-substrate as efficient as free-standing systems, the same high transmission maximum value and high quality factor being conserved.