Finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations are used to find the electric field intensity at the center of a cluster of plasmonic nanoparticles irradiated by a planewave source. We use an iterative optimization algorithm to maximize the electric field intensity. The resulting optimized configurations are found to be non-symmetric and non-intuitive, and cannot be obtained by analytical calculation methods. Experimentally, we investigate a novel technique using angle evaporation to produce plasmonic nanostructures with gap sizes of 1-2 nm. We evaluate the plasmonic activity of these nanoparticles both experimentally using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) measurements and theoretically using FDTD simulations. These simulations predict an electric field intensity enhancement of 82,400 at the center of the nanoparticle dimer, and an electromagnetic SERS enhancement factor of 10⁹-10¹⁰.