The grand challenge of this IRG is to understand how to manipulate light on the nanometer length scale and, thereby, implement new amplified sensing and information encoding strategies. Particles and arrays can amplify and confine light through excitation of their localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs). The materials of interest include chemically synthesized noble metal nanoparticles, nanofabricated arrays of noble metal nanoparticles and nanoholes, and surface functionalization chemistry for these nanomaterials. It is anticipated that the new materials produced through rational nanoparticle synthesis/fabrication—and in particular through understanding of their growth mechanism(s) and properties—will have a transformative impact on applications such as ultrasensitive chemical and biosensing, nanoscale optical spectroscopy and microscopy, and information processing.