Localized surface-plasmon resonances and negative refractive index in nanostructured electromagnetic metamaterials

We explore the extent to which the concept of localized surface-plasmon resonances can be used to explain the optical response of complementary electromagnetic metamaterials in the visible. The two complementary metallic nanostructures investigated are the mesh-based and particle-based structures, more specifically stacked periodic arrays of particles and stacked periodic arrays of holes in metallic sheets. Using finite-element modeling we show how hybridization of the localized surface-plasmon resonances associated with individual nanostructures (particle and hole) can be used to help understand the optical response of these materials. In particular, we look at the electromagnetic field distributions and the effective permittivity and permeability.