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Localized surface plasmons are charge density oscillations confined to metallic nanoparticles. Excitation of localized surface plasmons by an electromagnetic field at an incident wavelength where resonance occurs results in a strong light scattering and an enhancement of the local electromagnetic fields. This paper is devoted to the mathematical modeling of plasmonic nanoparticles. Its aim is threefold: (i) to mathematically define the notion of plasmonic resonance and to analyze the shift and broadening of the plasmon resonance with changes in size and shape of the nanoparticles; (ii) to study the scattering and absorption enhancements by plasmon resonant nanoparticles and express them in terms of the polarization tensor of the nanoparticle. Optimal bounds on the enhancement factors are also derived; (iii) to show, by analyzing the imaginary part of the Green function, that one can achieve super-resolution and super-focusing using plasmonic nanoparticles. For simplicity, the Helmholtz equation is used to model electromagnetic wave propagation.Mathematics Subject Classification (MSC2000): 35R30, 35C20.

In this paper we use the full Maxwell equations for light propagation in order to analyze plasmonic resonances for nanoparticles. We mathematically define the notion of plasmonic resonance and analyze its shift and broadening with respect to changes in size, shape, and arrangement of the nanoparticles, using the layer potential techniques associated with the full Maxwell equations. We present an effective medium theory for resonant plasmonic systems and derive a condition on the volume fraction under which the Maxwell-Garnett theory is valid at plasmonic resonances.Mathematics Subject Classification (MSC2000): 35R30, 35C20.

We prove by means of a couple of examples that plasmonic resonances can be used on one hand to classify shapes of nanoparticles with real algebraic boundaries and on the other hand to reconstruct the separation distance between two nanoparticles from measurements of their first collective plasmonic resonances. To this end, we explicitly compute the spectral decompositions of the Neumann-Poincaré operators associated with a class of quadrature domains and two nearly touching disks. Numerical results are included in support of our main findings.Mathematics Subject Classification (MSC2000): 35R30, 35C20.

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