Theory for self-consistent interplay between light and nanomaterials strongly modified by metallic nanostructures

Abstract

The design of the interplay between light and nanomaterials by the effect of localized-surface-plasmon resonance in metallic nanostructures is a fascinating subject, and recently, a lot of research has been carried out from both fundamental and applicational points of view. In this paper, we demonstrate the theories for describing the self-consistent interplay between the electronic states in the nanomaterials, the localized surface plasmons in the metallic nanostructures, and the light field, which provides insight into how the photoexcitation processes are modified through microscopic energy exchanges. As examples of such demonstrations, we show two cases, i.e., the interaction between a single metallic nanosphere and a quantum dot, and that between metallic nanostructures forming a nanogap and dimer molecules, where a peculiar dependence of photoexcitation processes on the distance between the metallic nanostructure and the absorbers arises depending on the respective characteristics of their interplay.