Theory on light scattering by metal nano-structures, by way of the Green tensor method

Abstract

This thesis reports a theoretical investigation of the interaction between light and metal nano-metric structures on a thick metal slab. When light is confined in a sub-wavelength structure, the electric field inside such structure is attained by solving Maxwell's equations self-consistently. This can be done by means of the Green Tensor Approach (GTA). Not only does the GTA provide the field within a sub-wavelength nano-metric structure, it also allows for an analytic study of the light scattered by the nano-structure into the surrounding space, far from the structure. Nonetheless the implementation of the Green tensor approach is rather complex, mathematically, especially if the considered scattering centers interact with a metal slab, rather than being placed in vacuum. In fact accounting for the presence of a back-ground metal slab, demands performing Sommerfeld's integrals.