Optics Comm. |
Volume 200, Page
1 |
2001 |
A. Krishnan, T. Thio, T. J.
Kim, H. J. Lezec, T. W.
Ebbesen, P. A. Wolff, J.B.
Pendry, L. Martin-Moreno, F. J.
Garcia-Vidal
The optical
transmission through subwavelength holes in metal films can be enhanced by
several orders of magnitude by enabling interaction of the incident light with
independent surface plasmon modes on either side of the film. Here we show that
this transmission is boosted by an additional factor of ~10 when the energies
of the surface plasmon modes on both sides are matched. These results,
confirmed by a three-dimensional theoretical analysis, give a totally new
understanding of the phenomenon of surface plasmon enhanced transmission. It is
found that the holes behave like subwavelength Fabry-Perot resonators for the
evanescent waves coupling the surface plasmons on either side of the film. In
this unusual device, the reflection at either end of the cavity is provided by
the surface plasmon modes which act as frequency dependent mirrors.
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