Plasmonic properties of a honeycomb structure formed by metallic nanoparticles

Abstract This work reports on a study regarding the plasmonic properties of a honeycomb-like structure that is formed by silver and gold nanoparticles. A honeycomb structure is proposed, and its plasmonic characteristics under the irradiation of a plane-wave light are numerically calculated, with several parameters being varied, including the radius of the nanoparticles, the separation between adjacent nanoparticles, and the polarization of the incident light. In the honeycomb, highly localized electric fields created by the oscillation of surface electrons are observed, and the associated electromagnetic hot spots are revealed in the vicinity of the noble metals. The results demonstrate that localized electric fields can be generated in the honeycomb-like structure, due to the plasmonic coupling between the metallic nanoparticles, and the hot spots can be adjusted by varying the values of the nanoparticles’ radius, the separation, as well as the incident light’s polarization. The plasmonic characteristics of the metal–nanoparticle honeycomb structure revealed in this study may be useful in the designs of plasmonic devices that utilizes localized, intensive electromagnetic hot spots.