Nmie: Extinction, Scattering and Absorption efficiencies of multilayer nanoparticles

nmie tool on Nanohub.org. This tool calculates the extinction, scattering, and absorption efficiencies of single nanoparticle (1 layer),core-shell nanoparticle (2 layer) and nanomatryushka nanoparticle (3 layer) using MIE formulation.

Since 2009, I have been a regular user of Nanohub.org. www.Nanohub.orgis a website that provides a platform for online simulation, research and teaching resources. Of interest is the ability to perform simulation online without installing software on your local computer. I envision that this type of cloud computing model will be the future of scientific computing.

Developers can use their Rappture toolkit (nice video to learn Rappture toolkit) to write wrappers for codes that are written in Fortran, C or Matlab and enable an easy to use GUI for the executables. There are few tools for Plasmonics on nanohub which you can find on my plasmonics resources post.

We have developed a Rappture tool called nmie. This tool calculates the extinction, scattering, and absorption efficiencies of single nanoparticle (1 layer), core-shell nanoparticle (2 layer) and nanomatryushka nanoparticle (3 layer) using MIE formulation. The user can change the layer composition (metals- au/ag or dielectric) and the refractive index of the surrounding medium. He/She can also change the wavelength range of the calculation. One thing I like about nanohub tools is that you can do many simulation cases and compare with each other.

You can find the tool here.To use this tool, you need to register first, which is free. :)

Technical details:

The engine is based on nmie code distributed by Dr. Nikolai Voshchinnikov http://www.astro.spbu.ru/staff/ilin2/SOFTWARE/nmie0.html. The nmie code can take layers more than 3, however I have used the code for three layers which is more common in plasmonics research. The recursive algorithm of Wu & Wang are used. Fore more details see

1) Wu Z.P., Wang Y.P., Electromagnetic scattering for multilaered spheres using recursive algorithms, Radio Science 1991. V. 26. P. 1393-1401.

2) Voshchinnikov N.V., Mathis J.S., Calculating Cross Sections of Composite Interstellar Grains, Astrophys. J. 1999. V. 526. 3) Johnson PB, Christy RW (1972) Phys Rev B 6,4370

The demo for this tool is here:

If you have any questions/comments/bugs on this tool, please let me know either at the nanohub website or here in the comments section.