Fano resonances: A Discovery that was not made 100 years ago

Recent research has revealed the existence of Fano resonances in quantum physics and anomalous light scattering exhibiting the quantum Fano resonances. It is found hat the localized plasmons, excited by the incident light in the scattering particle, are equivalent to quasi-discrete levels in Fano's approach. The radiative decay of the plasmon excitations play exactly the same role as that of tunneling from the quasi-discrete levels in quantum objects. The Fano resonance is found to have an asymmetric profile with a local maximum and minimum situated close to one another. The destructive interference in these Fano resonances may result in considerable or even complete suppression of the scattering along any given direction.