Abstract

The interaction of photons with metallic nanoparticles is important to a number of emerging nanotechnology applications due to the ability to obtain large enhancement and tight localization of electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of nanoparticles. Recently, there has been increasing interest in understanding the interaction of a focused beam of light with a nanoparticle. Numerical techniques based on finite difference time-domain [1] and finite element method [2], as well as analytical techniques based on generalized Mie theory have been used [2-4] to analyze the interaction of a focused beam with a nanoparticle. These studies [1-4] employ only spherical particles to study the interaction of a focused beam and nanoparticles. The interaction of a radially focused beam with elongated particles, such as a prolate spheroidal nanoparticle, is particularly interesting because it has the potential to produce even stronger near-field electromagnetic radiation.

© 2009 IEEE