Rayleigh Anomaly Induced Phase Gradients in Finite Nanoparticle Chains

We report on the theoretical study of anomalous phase gradients induced by Rayleigh anomalies in finite nanoparticle chains. These phase gradients, defined with respect to the phase of the applied plane wave, cause a deviation of the diffraction directions from the chain relative to the direction expected from the grating equation for infinite chains. To study the effect theoretically, we use an analytical approach based on the discrete dipole approximation, which reveals the combinatorial nature of the multi-scattering process that governs the chain dynamics. We find an approximate closed-form solution to the particles' dipole moments by describing the single reciprocal system with a successive solution of two non-reciprocal, one-way systems. Within this framework, we obtain the chain excitation by means of interference between different scattering paths. Moreover, we show that the dipole moments along the chain are governed by recursive relations dictated by the generalized Fibonacci series. The presented results provide a new perspective for understanding nanoparticle arrays' dynamics. Specifically, the unique approach for analytically analyzing the spatial excitations of the array inclusions may shed new light on emerging applications of periodic traveling wave antennas in the optical regime, such as LIDARs, topological states analysis and arbitrary beam shaping schemes.