The resonant wave modes in monomodal and multimodal planar Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensors and their response to a bidimensional array of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are analyzed both theoretically and experimentally, to investigate the parameters that rule the correct nanoparticle counting in the emerging metal nanoparticle-amplified surface plasmon resonance (PA-SPR) spectroscopy. With numerical simulations based on the Finite Element Method (FEM), we evaluate the error performed in the determination of the surface density of nanoparticles σ when the Maxwell-Garnett effective medium theory is used for fast data processing of the SPR reflectivity curves upon nanoparticle detection. The deviation increases directly with the manifestations of non-negligible scattering cross-section of the single nanoparticle, dipole-dipole interactions between adjacent AuNPs and dipolar interactions with the metal substrate. Near field simulations show clearly the set-up of dipolar interactions when the dielectric thickness is smaller than 10 nm and confirm that the anomalous dispersion usually observed experimentally is due to the failure of the effective medium theories. Using citrate stabilized AuNPs with a nominal diameter of about 15 nm, we demonstrate experimentally that Dielectric Loaded Waveguides (DLWGs) can be used as accurate nanocounters in the range of surface density between 20 and 200 NP/µm2, opening the way to the use of PA-SPR spectroscopy on systems mimicking the physiological cell membranes on SiO2 supports.

We present in this work a simple and efficient technique to analyze cylindrical plasmonic nanoantennas. In this method, we take into account only longitudinal current inside cylindrical structures and use 1D integral equation for the electric field with a given surface impedance of metal. The solution of this integral equation is obtained by the Method of Moments with sinusoidal basis functions. Some examples of calculations of nanoantennas with different geometries and sources are presented and compared with the commercial software Comsol 3D simulations. The results show that the proposed technique provides a good precision in the near-infrared and lower optical frequencies 100–400 THz.

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The influence of a dielectric shell on metallic spherical nanoparticles [core-shell nanoparticles (CSNps)] in the resonant modal response of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-type sensor is presented. The planar multilayer sensor structure, based on the Kretschmann and surface plasmon coupled emission (SPCE) configurations, is coupled to a periodic array of these nanoparticles. In the first configuration, the CSNps are considered as a homogeneous layer with effective permittivity given by the Clausius-Mossotti mixing formula and polarizability of a core shell for a quasi-static scattering regime. In the second configuration, it performed an evaluation via the discrete complex image method (DCIM). Electromagnetic wave propagation is evaluated by the generalized reflection coefficient for multilayer structures. The analytical results are validated by numerical simulations performed via finite element method and also by experimental data. We observed that the dielectric shell thickness affects considerably the sensibility of the sensor when analyzing the change in other parameters of the CSNps array.Resonance 186

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The study of metallic nanoparticles fed by optical fields has great interest in nanophotonics, for example in sensing devices. This paper presents a theoretical study of the interaction between electromagnetic waves and gold nanostructures with spherical geometries, which have a thin dielectric layer of silica. It is considered that the particle's size is much smaller than the operating wavelength, characterizing the Rayleigh scattering regime. Using an analytical model through the Laplace equation, the interaction between an oscillating uniform electric field and a core-shell nanosphere is presented. Then, using a numerical model, the scattering of two interacting core-shell nanospheres is also analyzed, as a function of the distance between them. For the isolated particle case, the efficiency parameters of scattering, absorption and extinction cross sections were calculated and compared with experimental data of absorbance curves. The results were obtained in the range of wavelengths from 450nm to 750nm. Some conclusions about the range of validity of the model in functions of the particle's dimensions are presented.

In this paper, we present a theoretical study of a Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor in the Surface Plasmon Coupled Emission (SPCE) configuration. A periodic planar array of core-shell gold nanoparticles (AuNps), chemically functionalized to aggregate fluorescent molecules, is coupled to the sensor structure. These nanoparticles, characterized as target particles, are modeled as equivalent nanodipoles. The electromagnetic modeling of the device was performed using the spectral representation of the magnetic potential by Periodic Green’s Function (PGF). Parametric results of spatial electric and magnetic fields are presented at wavelength 632.8nm. We also present a spectral analysis of the magnetic potential, where we verify the appearance of the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waves. To validate the analytical method, we compared the limit case of small concentration of nanoparticles with published works. We also present a convergence analysis of the solution as a function of the concentration of nanoparticles in the periodic array. The results show that the theoretical method of PFG can be efficiently used as a tool for design of this sensing device.

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