| Summary: | In this work a Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulation is employed to explore local field enhancement, plasmonic coupling, and charge distribution patterns. This 3D simulation calculates the magnetic and electric field components in a large matrix of Yee cells using Maxwell’s equations. An absorbing boundary condition is included to eliminate reflection back into the simulation chamber, and a sample system of cells is checked for convergence. In the specific simulations considered here, a laser pulse of single wavelength is incident on a silicon substrate, travels through an embedded ZnO nanowire (NW) waveguide only (due to an Ag filter), then incites plasmonic coupling at the gap between an Au nanoparticle tip and an Au substrate, an Au nanoparticle (NP), or a trio of Au nanoparticles incident on an angled Si substrate. The angle between the axis of the NW and the normal of the substrate is varied from 0-60°. The NP perpendicular deflection with respect to the NW axis is also varied from -115 - 75 nm. The enhancement patterns reveal superior signal to noise ratio compared to Near Field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM), three times smaller than the NP diameter 100 nm, as well as resolution and spot size of less than 50 nm. This method of Apertureless NSOM (ANSOM) using a NW waveguide grown on a transparent microcantilever therefore shows promise for imaging of single molecules incident on a substrate and NP-labeled cell membrane. === text
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