| Plasmon resonator arrays exhibit dramatically different optical properties from isolated ones because of strong near-field or far-field electromagnetic interactions between individual units. They can be used to trap, manipulate and amplify local optical fields for applications including biosensors, nonlinear optical devices and photonic nano-circuity. Unlike isolated resonators, coupled resonator arrays also can support Bloch modes for which the optical energy is delocalized over the entire system. The nonlocal effect leads to a dispersive optical response and thus a great spectral tunability.;This dissertation explores, both experimentally and theoretically, far-field and near-field optical prosperities of a number of coupled plasmon resonator systems including: (1) plasmonic nanoparticle (NP) arrays, (2) metal-insulator-metal (MIM) nanocavity arrays, (3) planar plasmonic crystals. Each system demonstrates quite different, yet fascinating behavior to manipulate optical fields on nanoscale. Beyond the interesting physics of the electromagnetic coupling process these examples serve to highlight the versatility and potential of the soft nanofabrication techniques to create large arrays of plasmon resonators in a fast and cost-effective fashion. |
