Fundamental Limits to Extinction by Metallic Nanoparticles

Abstract

We show that there are shape-independent upper bounds to the extinction cross section per unit volume of dilute, randomly arranged nanoparticles, given only material permittivity. Underlying the limits are restrictive sum rules that constrain the distribution of quasistatic eigenvalues. Surprisingly, optimally designed spheroids, with only a single quasistatic degree of freedom, reach the upper bounds for four permittivity values. Away from these permittivities, we demonstrate computationally optimized structures that surpass spheroids and approach the fundamental limits.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 28, 2014
Accession Number
ADA600221

Entities

People

  • Brendan G. DeLacy
  • C. W. Hsu
  • J. D. Joannopoulos
  • M. Soljacic
  • M. T. Reid
  • O. D. Miller
  • Steven G. Johnson
  • W. Qiu

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Charge Density
  • Computational Science
  • Depolarization
  • Dipole Moments
  • Eigenvalues
  • Equations
  • Extinction
  • Frequency
  • Geometry
  • Integral Equations
  • Integrals
  • Materials
  • Materials Science
  • Metallic Nanoparticles
  • Nanoparticles
  • Particles
  • Scattering

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Microwave Engineering.
  • Statistical inference.

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology