The physics of light transmission through subwavelength apertures and aperture arrays

The passage of light through apertures much smaller than the wavelength of the light has proved to be a surprisingly subtle phenomenon. This report describes how modern developments in nanofabrication, coherent light sources, and numerical vector field simulations have led to the upending of early predictions from scalar diffraction theory and classical electrodynamics. Optical response of real materials to incident coherent radiation at petahertz frequencies leads to unexpected consequences for transmission and extinction of light through subwavelength aperture arrays. This talk is a report on progress in our understanding of this phenomenon over the past decade.

[1]  Nader Engheta,et al.  Circuits with Light at Nanoscales: Optical Nanocircuits Inspired by Metamaterials , 2007, Science.

[2]  Lukas Novotny,et al.  Principles of Nano-Optics by Lukas Novotny , 2006 .

[3]  M Mansuripur,et al.  Transmission of light through small elliptical apertures. , 2004, Optics express.

[4]  M Mansuripur,et al.  Transmission of light through periodic arrays of sub-wavelength slits in metallic hosts. , 2006, Optics express.

[5]  M. Mansuripur,et al.  Transmission of light through slit apertures in metallic films , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.

[6]  Ping Sheng,et al.  Exact eigenfunctions for square-wave gratings: Application to diffraction and surface-plasmon calculations , 1982 .

[7]  R. H. Ritchie.  Plasma Losses by Fast Electrons in Thin Films , 1957 .

[8]  Michael Treacy,et al.  Dynamical diffraction in metallic optical gratings , 1999 .

[9]  Masud Mansuripur,et al.  Transmission of light through a periodic array of slits in a thick metallic film. , 2005, Optics express.

[10]  G. Wurtz,et al.  Dispersing light with surface plasmon polaritonic crystals. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[11]  F. García-Vidal,et al.  Transmission Resonances on Metallic Gratings with Very Narrow Slits , 1999, cond-mat/9904365.

[12]  H. J. Lezec,et al.  The optical response of nanostructured surfaces and the composite diffracted evanescent wave model , 2006 .

[13]  M. Mansuripur,et al.  Optical transmission at oblique incidence through a periodic array of sub-wavelength slits in a metallic host. , 2006, Optics express.

[14]  R. W. Wood,et al.  Anomalous Diffraction Gratings , 1935 .

[15]  L. Mandel,et al.  Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics , 1995 .

[16]  David Pines,et al.  COLLECTIVE ENERGY LOSSES IN SOLIDS , 1956 .

[17]  D Courjon,et al.  Near Field Microscopy and Near Field Optics , 2003 .

[18]  R. Wang,et al.  Near-field microscopy and near-field optics: Daniel Courjon Imperial College Press, distributed by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., ISBN 1-86094-258-X, 317 pages, price US $72 , 2005 .

[19]  G. '. 't Hooft,et al.  On the phase of plasmons excited by slits in a metal film. , 2006, Optics express.

[20]  Yunlong Sheng,et al.  Interference of surface waves in a metallic nanoslit. , 2007, Optics express.

[21]  P. Lalanne,et al.  Negative role of surface plasmons in the transmission of metallic gratings with very narrow slits. , 2002, Physical review letters.

[22]  U. Fano.  Effects of Configuration Interaction on Intensities and Phase Shifts , 1961 .

[23]  Henri Lezec,et al.  Diffracted evanescent wave model for enhanced and suppressed optical transmission through subwavelength hole arrays. , 2004, Optics express.

[24]  Maxim Sukharev,et al.  Coherent control of light propagation via nanoparticle arrays , 2007 .

[25]  Masud Mansuripur,et al.  Transmission of light through slit apertures in metallic films , 2005 .

[26]  Yunlong Sheng,et al.  Optical surface waves over metallo-dielectric nanostructures: Sommerfeld integrals revisited. , 2008, Optics express.

[27]  H J Lezec,et al.  Surface wave generation and propagation on metallic subwavelength structures measured by far-field interferometry. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[28]  M. Kowarz,et al.  Homogeneous and evanescent contributions in scalar near-field diffraction. , 1995, Applied optics.

[29]  Jean-Claude Weeber,et al.  Design, near-field characterization, and modeling of 45° surface-plasmon Bragg mirrors , 2006 .

[30]  Olivier J. F. Martin,et al.  Transient behavior of surface plasmon polaritons scattered at a subwavelength groove , 2007, 0704.0703.

[31]  E. Eliel,et al.  Plasmon-assisted two-slit transmission: Young's experiment revisited. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[32]  B. Hecht,et al.  Principles of nano-optics , 2006 .

[33]  Thomas W. Ebbesen,et al.  Fornel, Frédérique de , 2001 .

[34]  Tineke Thio.  A bright future for subwavelength light sources , 2006 .

[35]  Stefan Enoch,et al.  Theory of light transmission through subwavelength periodic hole arrays , 2000 .

[36]  M. Mansuripur,et al.  Surface Plasmon Polaritons on Metallic Surfaces , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.

[37]  H. Lezec,et al.  Extraordinary optical transmission through sub-wavelength hole arrays , 1998, Nature.

[38]  S. Maier.  Plasmonics: Fundamentals and Applications , 2007 .

[39]  High-frequency response of subwavelength-structured metals in the petahertz domain. , 2008, Optics express.

[40]  H. Bethe.  Theory of Diffraction by Small Holes , 1944 .

[41]  Michael Treacy,et al.  Dynamical diffraction explanation of the anomalous transmission of light through metallic gratings , 2002 .

[42]  J. Pendry,et al.  Theory of extraordinary optical transmission through subwavelength hole arrays. , 2000, Physical review letters.

[43]  Philippe Lalanne,et al.  Interaction between optical nano-objects at metallo-dielectric interfaces , 2006 .

[44]  H. Lezec,et al.  Surface-wave interferometry on single subwavelength slit-groove structures fabricated on gold films. , 2006, Optics express.

[45]  Harry A. Atwater,et al.  Quantitative determination of optical transmission through subwavelength slit arrays in Ag films: Role of surface wave interference and local coupling between adjacent slits , 2008 .

[46]  Thomas W. Ebbesen,et al.  Surface plasmons enhance optical transmission through subwavelength holes , 1998 .

[47]  F. Nunes,et al.  Equivalent Circuits and Nanoplasmonics , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology.

[48]  Stephen Gray,et al.  Surface plasmon generation and light transmission by isolated nanoholes and arrays of nanoholes in thin metal films. , 2005, Optics express.