Analytical results regarding electrostatic resonances of surface phonon/plasmon polaritons: separation of variables with a twist

Abstract

The boundary integral equation (BIE) method ascertains explicit relations between localized surface phonon and plasmon polariton resonances and the eigenvalues of its associated electrostatic operator. We show that group-theoretical analysis of the Laplace equation can be used to calculate the full set of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the electrostatic operator for shapes and shells described by separable coordinate systems. These results not only unify and generalize many existing studies, but also offer us the opportunity to expand the study of phenomena such as cloaking by anomalous localized resonance. Hence, we calculate the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of elliptic and circular cylinders. We illustrate the benefits of using the BIE method to interpret recent experiments involving localized surface phonon polariton resonances and the size scaling of plasmon resonances in graphene nanodiscs. Finally, symmetry-based operator analysis can be extended from the electrostatic to the full-wave regime. Thus, bound states of light in the continuum can be studied for shapes beyond spherical configurations.