Simulation of plasmonic nanoparticles situated on substrates

Plasmonics studies the interaction between electromagnetic fields and the free electrons in a metal. The plasmonic excitations of metallic nanoparticles are called localized surface plasmon resonances. A simulation method well suited for studying the optical properties of plasmonic nanoparticles is the boundary element method. In the boundary element method linear partial differential equations which have been formulated as integral equations are solved with the use of Green functions. In this thesis we show how to include substrate effects in the boundary element method. In this way, the simulation of metallic nanoparticles situated on substrates becomes feasible. An important part play the so-called reflected Green functions which describe the substrate interaction. We study different substrates and particle geometries, study the convergence of the simulations, and compare the results to results obtained with the discrete dipole approximation method. (author)