Far-field optical response of localized near-field enhancements induced by nano scatters in AgO_x super-resolution near-field structure

The super-resolution near-field structure (super-RENS) is an ultrahigh-density near-field optical disk data storage medium which can achieve superior spatial resolution. Our previous studies found that enhanced local optical intensity occurred at the near field of the super-RENS disk, and the nonlinear near-field optical enhancement is related to the localized surface plasmons of silver clusters dissociated from the AgO_x layer of the super-RENS disk. In this paper, we report the near-field and far-field properties of AgO_x-type super-RENS with different embedded silver nanoparticles using two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculations. Highly localized enhancements are found between adjacent silver nanoparticles in the near fields. The far-field signals of different types silver nano scatters confirm the super-resolution capability of AgO _x-type Super-RENS disks. The behaviors of far-field signals indicate the correlation between the enhanced localized surface plasmons and the super-resolution capabilities of AgO_x-type super-RENS.