Abstract

We investigate the produced superlattice in electronic systems when coupled with metal nanoparticle arrays. The periodic potential is formed by the induced plasmonic excitations in the metal nanoparticles, with the period changing from several to hundreds of nanometers for either one- or two-dimensional cases. The theoretical method to calculate the periodic potential is presented analytically. Landau–Zener tunneling is studied in the one-dimensional case. The results show that the energy band structures of the superlattice could be designed or modified in a variety of ways, such as changing the structure parameters, combining different kinds of metal nanoparticles, and tuning the strength of the excitation field. These advantages make it a prospective platform to simulate condensed matter physics.

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