Principles of nanoparticle imaging using surface plasmons

Unlike surface plasmon resonance sensors that detect integral changes to the optical properties of a sample, surface plasmon polariton-microscopy techniques can detect isolated nanoparticles in real-time through their plasmonic image, even of sub-wavelength dimensions. The feature characteristics and intensity of this plasmonic image are dependent on the nanoparticle's chemical composition and size. However, the lack of a theoretical model describing the principles forming a plasmonic image have hindered their understanding. In this article, we present a full-wave analytical model that describes electromagnetically the formation of the plasmonic image. Through our analytical model and numerical calculations, we show the properties of a plasmonic image from sub-wavelength to macroscopic particles of various chemical compositions.