Mie plasmons: modes volumes, quality factors and coupling strengths (Purcell factor) to a dipolar emitter

Using either quasi-static approximation or exact Mie expansion, we characterize the localized surface plasmons supported by a metallic spherical nanoparticle. We estimate the quality factor $Q_n$ and define the effective volume $V_n$ of the $n^{th}$ mode in a such a way that coupling strength with a neighbouring dipolar emitter is proportional to the ratio $Q_n/V_n$ (Purcell factor). The role of Joule losses, far-field scattering and mode confinement in the coupling mechanism are introduced and discussed with simple physical understanding, with particular attention paid to energy conservation.Comment: (in press) International Journal of Optics (2011

Purcell factor for point-like dipolar emitter coupling to 2D-plasmonic waveguides

We theoretically investigate the spontaneous emission of a point--like dipolar emitter located near a two--dimensional (2D) plasmonic waveguide of arbitrary form. We invoke an explicite link with the density of modes of the waveguide describing the electromagnetic channels into which the emitter can couple. We obtain a closed form expression for the coupling to propagative plasmon, extending thus the Purcell factor to plasmonic configurations. Radiative and non-radiative contributions to the spontaneous emission are also discussed in details

Molecular Lifetime Changes Induced By Nanometer-Scale Optical-Fields

We present a new practical scheme to study the spectroscopic properties of molecules embedded in optically complex surroundings. The response function accounting for the modification of the spectroscopic behavior of the molecules is derived self-consistently in direct space through the numerical solution of Dyson's equation. We apply this scheme to investigate near-field optical effects due to fluorescence phenomena. Experimentally relevant examples show that the dramatic decay of the molecular lifetime upon approaching a surface defect could achieve well-resolved imaging of subwavelength structures

Impurity-induced polaritons in a one-dimensional chain

A detailed analytical study of an impurity induced polariton band arising inside a spectral gap between lower and upper polariton branches is presented. Using the microcanonical method, we calculate the density of states and localization length of the impurity polaritons. Analytical results are compared with numerical simulations and excellent agreement is found.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, RevTe

Dielectric versus topographic contrast in near-field microscopy

Using a fully vectorial three-dimensional numerical approach (generalized field propagator, based on Green's tensor technique), we investigate the near-field images produced by subwavelength objects buried in a dielectric surface. We study the influence of the object index, size, and depth on the near field. We emphasize the similarity between the near field spawned by an object buried in the surface (dielectric contrast) and that spawned by a protrusion on the surface (topographic contrast). We show that a buried object with a negative dielectric contrast (i.e., with a smaller index than its surrounding medium) produces a near-field image that is reversed from that of an object with a positive contrast. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America

Iterative Scheme For Computing Exactly The Total Field Propagating In Dielectric Structures Of Arbitrary Shape

We present a new approach to the computation of an electrical field propagating in a dielectric structure. We use the Green's-function technique to compute an exact solution of the wave equation. No paraxial approximation is made, and our method can handle any kind of dielectric medium (air, semiconductor, metal, etc.). An original iterative numerical scheme based on the parallel use of Lippman-Schwinger and Dyson's equations is demonstrated. The influence of the numerical parameters on the accuracy of the results is studied in detail, and the high precision and stability of the method are assessed. Examples for one and two dimensions establish the versatility of the method and its ability to handle structures of arbitrary shape. The application of the method to the computation of eigenmode spectra for dielectric structures is illustrated