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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Determination of the Excitation and Coupling Rates Between Light Emitters and Surface Plasmon Polaritons
Published on: July 21, 2018
Visualizing plasmon coupling in closely spaced chains of Ag nanoparticles by electron energy-loss spectroscopy
Fengqi Song1, Tingyu Wang, Xuefeng Wang
1National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P R China.
Abstract:
Anisotropic plasmon coupling in closely spaced chains of Ag nanoparticles is visualized using electron energy-loss spectroscopy in a scanning transmission electron microscope. For dimers as the simplest chain, mapping the plasmon excitations with nanometer spatial resolution and an energy resolution of 0.27 eV intuitively identifies two coupling plasmons. The in-phase mode redshifts from the ultraviolet region as the interparticle spacing is reduced, reaching the visible range at 2.7 eV. Calculations based on the discrete-dipole approximation confirm its optical activeness, where the longitudinal direction is constructed as the path for light transportation. Two coupling paths are then observed in an inflexed four-particle chain.
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