The effects of retardation on the topological plasmonic chain: plasmonic edge states beyond the quasistatic limit

Abstract: We study a one-dimensional plasmonic system with non-trivial topology: a chain of metallic nanoparticles with alternating spacing, which is the plasmonic analogue to the Su-Schreiffer-Heeger model. We extend previous efforts by including long range hopping with retardation and radiative damping, which leads to a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian with frequency dependence. We calculate band structures numerically and show that topological features such as quantised Zak phase persist due to chiral symmetry. This predicts parameters leading to topologically protected edge modes, which allows for positioning of disorder-robust hotspots at topological interfaces, opening up novel nanophotonics applications.