We study the interaction of focused radially-polarized light with metal
nanospheres. By expanding the electromagnetic field in terms of multipoles, we
gain insight on the excitation of localized surface plasmon-polariton
resonances in the nanoparticle. We show that focused radially-polarized beams
offer more opportunities than a focused plane wave or a Gaussian beam for
tuning the near- and far-field system response. These results find applications
in nano-optics, optical tweezers, and optical data storage.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure