Effect of Media on the Electric Field of a Rhombic Nanostructure Array

Electric field distribution is an important parameter for nanostructure arrays in nanobiosensing applications. It can influence the sensitivity and the resolution of nanobiosensors. We focus on the effect of media on the electric field distribution of a rhombic silver nanostructure array. The finite-difference time-domain algorithm-based numerical calculation method is used to monitor the electric field distribution of the silver nanostructures when the refractive index of the medium around the nanostructure array is changed. The calculated results show that tuning the refractive index of the medium around silver can have a considerable influence on the electric field distribution in the reflection and transmission directions. This effect can be used to increase the extinction efficiency and to improve the resolution of the spectra for nanobiosensing. (condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties)