Effects of nanoparticle sizes, shapes, and permittivity on plasmonic imaging

Plasmonic imaging has exhibited superiority in label-free and fast detection to single nanoparticles due to its high sensitivity and high temporal resolution, which plays an important role in environmental monitoring and biomedical research. As containing plenty of information associated with particle features, plasmonic imaging has been used for identifying the particle sizes, shapes, and permittivity. Yet, the effects of the nanoparticle features on plasmonic imaging are not investigated, which hinders the in-depth understanding to plasmonic imaging and its applications in particle identification. In this work, we analyzed five types of nanoparticles, including polystyrene (PS), Au, silicon nanospheres as well as PS and Ag nanowires. We illustrated the effects of nanoparticle sizes, shapes, and permittivity on spatial resolution, imaging contrast, and interference fringes. We found that nanoparticle sizes and permittivity influenced the imaging contrast. Via introducing size parameter relevant to interference fringes, the connection between particle shape and reduction rate of size parameter is built, and the effects of particle shapes on the interference patterns are revealed. Our research provides a basis for improving the plasmonic imaging and presents guidance for applications on particle identification in nano-detection, biosensor, and environmental monitoring.