Simulating light scattering from supported plasmonic nanowires.

We present a method for calculating the differential scattering cross sections from nanostructures close to an interface separating two semi-infinitive dielectric media. The method combines a fast finite element software (Comsol multiphysics), used for calculations of the fields around and inside the structure, and the Green's functions method, which is used to find the far field distribution from the calculated total fields inside the nanostructure. We apply the method to calculations of scattering spectra from silver nanowires supported by an air-glass interface, a system that is of high current interest in relation to various nanophotonics applications. The results are analyzed in relation to analytical models and compared to experimentally measured spectra, to which we find a good agreement.