Abstract
The enhanced transmission of light through subwavelength-size holes in a metal plate is well-known to be associated with surface plasmons. We have undertaken a systematic theoretical study of several strategies for applying these plasmon effects in a near-field optical readout system using an exact Green's tensor formulation. Based on the results of our simulations with light of wavelength lambda = 500 nm, data structures separated by 120 nm could be clearly resolved, and asymmetries of about +/-10 nm in the optical readout system could be tolerated without serious degradation of the performance. Advantages and disadvantages of each strategy are discussed.
Highlights
There has been much interest in recent years in employing near-field optical techniques to overcome the diffraction limit in optical data recording and readout systems
Enhanced transmission through subwavelength-size hole arrays [3] and single subwavelength apertures [4] in metal plates has been observed, an enhancement generally credited to surface plasmons
We undertake a systematic theoretical study of surface plasmon effects in a near-field optical readout system using a Green’s tensor formulation in a two-dimensional geometry, with a single slit in a metal plate used as a near-field probe
Summary
There has been much interest in recent years in employing near-field optical techniques to overcome the diffraction limit in optical data recording and readout systems. It has been suggested that the phenomenon of enhanced transmission could be useful in improving near-field optical readout systems (‘super compact disc systems’), very little work has been done to study such a possibility theoretically. To study the effects of enhanced transmission and plasmon resonances we consider the effect of placing surface features on the metal plate, referred to as ‘plasmon pits’. We find that a number of different system configurations could be used to effectively employ surface plasmon effects in data readout Each of these systems differs in the nature of the readout process, and each has its own unique advantages and disadvantages.
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