title: Tunable hybridization in metal nanoshell chains.
abstract: We have studied the coupled surface plasmon (SP) modes in periodic metal nanoshell chains by including long range electromagnetic interactions. The eigen-decomposition method is used to analyze the dispersion and dissipation of the SP modes. The resulting band structure can be understood as a hybridization between a hole band and a particle band with a structurally tunable band gap in the middle of the first Brillouin zone. The mode quality, which is defined as the imaginary part of the generalized polarizability, increases as the shell thickness decreases. This indicates a larger energy loss and an increasing coupling between the bands. Through the manipulation of the band structures, the propagation of the coupled SP modes in the nanoshell chain can be controlled.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D055590:Electromagnetic Phenomena; D057145:Nanoshells / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013499:Surface Properties