Plasmon — exciton coupling effects in light absorption and scattering by metal/J-aggregate bilayer nanoparticles

This paper examines plasmon — exciton coupling effects in light absorption and scattering by hybrid nanoparticles consisting of a metallic core and organic dye J-aggregate shell. The spectroscopic characteristics of such particles are calculated using generalised Mie theory for two concentric spheres in a wide spectral range for various geometric parameters of the system, core materials (Ag, Au, Cu and Al) and cyanine dyes (TC, OC and PIC). We determine the eigenfrequencies of hybrid modes in the system and photoabsorption peak heights as functions of the oscillator strength of the transition in the J-band of the dye, core radius and shell thickness, and demonstrate that the interactions of a Frenkel exciton with dipole and multipole plasmons have radically different effects on the optical properties of the composite nanoparticles. Varying the particle size and the optical constants of the core and shell materials influences the number of peaks in the spectra of the particles and leads to a significant redistribution of peak heights. We identify regions where the extinction spectrum of the particles is dominated by light absorption or scattering processes.