Investigation of high-order resonant modes for aluminium nanoparticles (arrays) using the finite-difference time-domain method

Abstract

The optical properties of aluminum nanoparticles are simulated and calculated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Our research has given a comprehensive explanation of how the substrate's dielectric coefficients impact the surface plasmon resonance effect. Furthermore, it offers valuable insights into the role of substrate materials with different dielectric coefficients in modulating the surface plasmon resonance effect of aluminum nanoparticles. The simulation demonstrates the high sensitivity of the structure's surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to the particle size of aluminum nanoparticles. Primarily due to the short-wavelength resonance characteristics, as the particle size increases in the presence of a substrate, there is an overall red shift in the peak position compared to the case without a substrate. A non-metallic kind of substance, which is weakly coupled to the aluminum nanoparticles, has weak electric field enhancement; nevertheless the metal substrates confer significant electrically powered field enhancement to the system, and the height of the particles placed on the substrate also affects the SPR properties of the structure. For various specific needs or possible applications requiring different characteristic peaks, the SPR properties of the aluminum nanoparticle–substrate structure can be tuned by particle size and height.