Surface plasmon polariton diffraction from isolated nanoparticles

Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) are widely used for sensing purposes. Recently, it was shown that single, isolated particles can be imaged with SPP-waves. We show that the image is produced due to the diffraction of SPP-waves, and we derive a full-wave analytical model expressing this interaction. On the basis of our theoretical model, we quantify the diffraction of SPP-waves, aiming to characterize the particle from the properties of its observed image.