title: Electromagnetic energy transport in nanoparticle chains via dark plasmon modes.
abstract: Using light to exchange information offers large bandwidths and high speeds, but the miniaturization of optical components is limited by diffraction. Converting light into electron waves in metals allows one to overcome this problem. However, metals are lossy at optical frequencies and large-area fabrication of nanometer-sized structures by conventional top-down methods can be cost-prohibitive. We show electromagnetic energy transport with gold nanoparticles that were assembled into close-packed linear chains. The small interparticle distances enabled strong electromagnetic coupling causing the formation of low-loss subradiant plasmons, which facilitated energy propagation over many micrometers. Electrodynamic calculations confirmed the dark nature of the propagating mode and showed that disorder in the nanoparticle arrangement enhances energy transport, demonstrating the viability of using bottom-up nanoparticle assemblies for ultracompact opto-electronic devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Laboratory for Nanophotonics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Solis
authors.forename: Britain
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Willingham
authors.forename: Scott L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Nauert
authors.forename: Liane S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Slaughter
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: Pattanawit
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Swanglap
authors.forename: Aniruddha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Wei-Shun
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Link
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D008027:Light; D008956:Models, Chemical; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000379:methods*