Optics of metal nanoparticle aggregates with light induced motion

Light-induced forces between metal nanoparticles change the geometry of the aggregates and affect their optical properties. Light absorption, scattering and scattering of a probe beam are numerically studied with Newton's equations and the coupled dipole equations for penta-particle aggregates. The relative changes in optical responses are large compared with the linear, low-intensity limit and relatively fast with nanosecond characteristic times. Time and intensity dependencies are shown to be sensitive to the initial potential of the aggregation forces.