Abstract
We have experimentally studied the polarization-dependent transmission properties of a nanoslit in a gold film as a function of its width. The slit exhibits strong birefringence and dichroism. We find, surprisingly, that the transmission of the polarization parallel to the slit only disappears when the slit is much narrower than half a wavelength, while the transmission of the perpendicular component is reduced by the excitation of surface plasmons. We exploit the slit's dichroism and birefringence to realize a quarter-wave retarder.
Highlights
The study of the transmission of light through small perforations in metal films has a venerable history [1,2,3,4] and has important applications in the field of optical data storage [5]
For thin metal films, a nanoslit acts as a lossy optical retarder, and that the transverse electric (TE)/transverse magnetic (TM) transmission ratio is around unity well below the cutoff width, approaching zero only when the slit is extremely narrow
The TM polarization is transmitted much more through the narrowest slits, since there the transmitted polarization is dominated by TM for any input polarization
Summary
The study of the transmission of light through small perforations in metal films has a venerable history [1,2,3,4] and has important applications in the field of optical data storage [5]. It dates back to the middle of the nineteenth century when Fizeau described the polarizing effect of wedge-shaped scratches in such films [6] This field has recently come back to center stage following the observation that, at a specific set of wavelengths, the transmission of a thin metal film containing a regular two-dimensional array of subwavelength apertures is much larger than elementary diffraction theory predicts [7]. This phenomenon of extraordinary optical transmission, which is commonly attributed to surface plasmons traveling along the corrugated interface, has spawned many studies of thin metal films carrying variously-shaped corrugations and perforations.
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