Calculations of light scattering from isolated and interacting metallic nanowires of arbitrary cross section by means of Green's theorem surface intergral equations in parametric form

We study theoretically the light scattering from metal wires of arbitrary cross section, with emphasis on the occurrence of plasmon resonances. We make use of the rigorous formulation of the Green's theorem surface integral equations of the electromagnetic wave scattering, written for an arbitrary number of scatterers described in parametric form. We have investigated the scattering cross sections for nanowires of various shapes (circle, triangles, rectangles, and stars), either isolated or interacting. The relationship between the cross sectional shape and the spectral dependence of the plasmon resonances is studied, including the impact of nanoparticle coupling in the case of interacting scatterers. Near-field intensity maps are also shown that shed light on the plasmon resonance features and the occurrence of local field enhancements. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.