effect of size-dependent damping on plasmon-hybridized modes of asymmetric nanosphere dimers: the role of nanogap, size ratio, surrounding medium, and substrate

Herein, we report quasi-static theory-based simulations on size-asymmetric au and ag nanosphere dimers in which size-dependent damping induced by the electron-surface interaction is prominent. the sensitivity of plasmon-hybridized modes of both asymmetric nanodimers with respect to the size ratio of the nanospheres forming nanodimer, the refractive index of surrounding medium, nanogap, and the local dielectric perturbation in the surrounding medium in the presence of the semi-infinite substrate is studied systematically. in each case, the theoretical sensitivity value is estimated for parallel and perpendicular polarizations. moreover, for comparison, the dependence of plasmon modes of size-symmetric nanosphere dimers on the size-dependent damping is investigated.