Electromagnetics of Metals and Theory Fundamentals

Abstract

In this chapter, we focus on describing the classical electromagnetic theory to expound the basic fundamentals of small discrete particles. With this theory, we can finally derive the mechanism and property of plasmonic particles like gold, silver, copper, etc. Here, we first lead in the Maxwell’s equations. They will make it easier to understand the interaction of electromagnetism. Then, we introduce some fundamental parameters, such as the refractive index and the relative parameters, to make the analysis clearly. These quantities will be used in the simplest plane-wave solution and surface plasmon polariton (SPPS) equation which are the intermediate processes that can lead us to the final answer. In order to explain the mechanism clearly, we do not want to twist in the objective factor, so the light we use here is a monochromatic parallel beam, and dipole excitation is considered as the most important factor. And the light containing the general properties of optics can ignore plenty of special cases.