Effective medium-based analysis of nanowire-mediated localized surface plasmon resonance

We explore a nanowire-based localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensor system using an effective medium for the nanowire layer. The effective medium is obtained based on the far-field characteristics of the nanowire-based LSPR system. Near-field properties as well as the sensitivity performance of the effective medium-based SPR structure are compared to exact results of the nanowire-based LSPR system. The results indicate that an effective medium can reproduce the far-field and near-field characteristics of nanowires fairly well, while it represents the nanowire-based LSPR on a limited basis in terms of sensitivity characteristics, particularly when the LSPR is significantly enhanced.