Theoretical Results for a Dipole Plasmonic Mode Based on a Forced Damped Harmonic Oscillator Model

The localized surface-plasmon resonance has drawn great attention, due to its unique optical properties. In this work a general theoretical description of the dipole mode is proposed, using the forced damped harmonic oscillator model of free charges in an ellipsoid. The restoring force and driving force are derived in the quasistatic approximation under general conditions. In this model, metal is regarded as composed of free charges and bound charges. The bound charges form the dielectric background which has a dielectric function. Those free charges undergo a collective motion in the dielectric background under the driving force. The response of free charges will not be included in the dielectric function like the Drude model. The extinction and scattering cross sections as well as the damping coefficient from our model are verified to be consistent with those based on the Drude model. We introduce size effects and modify the restoring and driving forces by adding the dynamic depolarization factor and the radiation damping term to the depolarization factor. This model provides an intuitive physical picture as well as a simple theoretical description of the dipole mode of the localized surface-plasmon resonance based on free-charge collective motion.