The electric field of a point charge in a spherical inclusion structure

Abstract

A point charge in the presence of a metallic nanoshpere is a fundamental setup, which has implications for Raman scattering, enhancement of spontaneous emission of a molecule by an antenna, sensing, and modeling a metallic tip in proximity to a nanoparticle. Here, we analytically expand the electric field of a point charge in an $\epsilon_{2}$ host medium in the presence of an $\epsilon_{1}$ sphere using the sphere eigenstates, where $\epsilon_1$ and $\epsilon_2$ can take any values. Only the $m=0$ spherical harmonics are employed in the expansion and the calculation of the potential and the electric field is very simple. The electric field is strongly enhanced when $\epsilon_{1}/\epsilon_2$ is close to an $(\epsilon_{1}/\epsilon_2)_l$ eigenvalue of a dominant mode, which is determined by the point charge location and the measurement point. An electric field exists inside the sphere when $\epsilon_{1}/\epsilon_2$ is close to a $(\epsilon_{1}/\epsilon_2)_l$ resonance even when $\epsilon_1$ is a conductor. Low order modes generate an electric field far away from the interface, where the $l=1$ mode with a resonance at $\epsilon_1=-2\epsilon_2$ generates a field at the sphere center. The high order modes which are associated with high spatial frequencies become more dominant when the point charge approaches the sphere surface or when the physical parameters are close the high order modes resonances. When $\epsilon_{1}/\epsilon_2$ is smaller or larger than the eigenvalues of the dominant modes, the modes interfere constructively and generate a strong signal at an angular direction equal to that of the source. The spectral information at the sphere surface may be utilized to calculate the point charge location without knowing its magnitude.