All-optical switching at the Fano resonances in subwavelength gratings with very narrow slits

We theoretically discuss all-optical switching at the Fano resonances of subwavelength gratings made of a chalcogenide glass (As(2)S(3)). Particular attention is devoted to the case in which the grating possesses extremely narrow slits (channels ranging from a～10 nm to a～40 nm). The remarkable local field enhancement available in these situations conspires to yield low-threshold switching intensities (~50 MW/cm(2)) at telecommunication wavelengths for extremely thin (d～200 nm) gratings when a realistic value of the As(2)S(3) cubic nonlinearity is used.     

Resonances on metallic compound transmission gratings with subwavelength wires and slits

We investigate the response of gratings formed by subwavelength wires in a dielectric medium. For gratings with a single wire per period, most of the incident power is transmitted through the structure. If the distance between adjacent wires is small enough, the excitation of waveguide modes can lead to reflection resonances. However, only when the period is formed by several wires (compound grating), new degrees of freedom are introduced for the phase distribution of the field inside the slits, allowing a new class of resonances analyzed in this letter. We give numerical examples illustrating the combined effect produced by both types of resonances in the grating response.     

Transmission resonances of metallic compound gratings with subwavelength slits

Transmission metallic gratings with subwavelength slits are known to produce enhanced transmitted intensity for certain resonant wavelengths. One of the mechanisms that produce these resonances is the excitation of waveguide modes inside the slits. We show that by adding slits to the period, the transmission maxima are widened and, simultaneously, this generates phase resonances that appear as sharp dips in the transmission response. These resonances are characterized by a significant enhancement of the interior field.     

Beam focusing from double subwavelength metallic slits filled with nonlinear material surrounded by dielectric surface gratings

Based on the radiation properties of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) can be controlled by adjusting the refractive indexes of dielectric materials in the metallic slits, a novel plasmonic focusing structure formed by two subwavelength metal apertures filled with Kerr nonlinear material surrounded by surface dielectric gratings is proposed and demonstrated numerically. Directions of radiation fields are determined by the phase difference of the surface waves at the exit interface and resonance property of each surface grating. Numerical simulations using two-dimensional (2D) Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method verify that the deflection angle and focal length can be controlled easily by changing the intensity of incident light, dynamically tunable on-axis and off-axis focusing effects can be achieved.     

Multiple coupling of surface plasmons in quasiperiodic gratings

Whereas periodic gratings enable us to couple light into a surface plasmon polariton only at a specific angle and wavelength, we show here that quasiperiodic gratings enable the coupling of light at multiple wavelengths and angles. The quasiperiodic grating can be designed in a systematic manner using the dual-grid method, thereby enabling us to control the coupling strength and grating dimensions. We verified the method experimentally by efficiently coupling light into a surface plasmon from several different illumination angles using a single quasiperiodic grating.     

Nonreciprocal extraordinary optical transmission through subwavelength slits in metallic film

We demonstrate the phenomenon of nonreciprocal extraordinary optical transmission (NEOT) through metallic film with slits on the substrate of magneto-optical materials. Under uniformly magnetization, the system can show nonreciprocal transmission at near-IR frequency range. With a properly designed structure, the nonreciprocity can be as high as 57.6%. Numerical evidence shows that the nonreciprocal performance is sensitive to the incidence angle, as well as to the thickness of the substrate.     

Optical properties of metallo-dielectric deep trench gratings: role of surface plasmons and Wood-Rayleigh anomaly

We present optical measurements performed on a gold film deposited on deep subwavelength grooves etched in a quartz substrate at visible wavelengths where the Wood-Rayleigh (WR) anomaly and surface plasmon polaritons (SPs) are well separated. The measurements show that transmission of TM-polarized light through the slit array vanishes when SPs are excited at the air-metal interface, whereas the WR anomaly appears as small peaks.     

Dispersion of surface plasmons in dielectric-metal coatings on concave diffraction gratings

Anomalies in the intensity ofp-polarized light from concave diffraction gratings (Wood's anomalies) have been used to obtain surface plasmon dispersion curves for dielectric-metal layers on the grating surface. These include a 350 Å MgF₂ layer and Al₂O₃ layers varying from a few angstroms to over 800 Å on an Al substrate. The wavelength range of the incident and diffracted light is from the visible to the vacuum ultraviolet (7,500?500 Å). Anomalous polarization peaks for Al₂O₃ layers in the vacuum ultraviolet (at ～ 1,600 Å) are shown to shift significantly to longer wavelengths for only a few angstroms (up to 50 Å) of oxide thickness, while for thicknesses greater than ～ 50 Å any further shift is small. In the visible region (> 4,000 Å), on the other hand, the wavelength shifts are small for dielectric thicknesses up to ～ 50 Å, but are large for thicknesses of several hundred angstroms. These results are in substantial agreement with the theoretical dispersion curves for these cases. Also considered are some of the effects of diffusion pump oil.     

Dispersion relation of surface plasmons on gold- and silver gratings

The propagation velocity and damping of surface plasmons on sinusoidally modulated gold- and silver surfaces with different grating constants (ca. 4000 Å, 8000 Å and 15000 Å) are measured at wavelengths of 6471 Å and 5682 Å as function of the amplitude of the grating (up to ca. 300 Å). Earlier measurements of the changes of the dispersion relation produced by the sinusoidal profile could be improved by reducing the contribution of a second harmonic to the grating profile to less than about 0.06. Observed and calculated data, obtained with the Rayleigh method, show good agreement.     

Modal coupling in fiber tapers decorated with metallic surface gratings

An interference-based scheme for fabricating periodic metal gratings on one side of the uniform waist of optical fiber tapers has been developed. Optical characterization of a 5 mm long, 511 nm period gold grating fiber taper with a 10 microm diameter reveals backward coupling to both guided and radiation modes that is explained by using an analytical mode-coupling analysis. A refractometer based on this grating taper has a high and constant sensitivity over a large refractive index operating range of 1 to 1.41.     

Extraordinary optical transmission for TE wave through metallic sub-wavelength grating with slits filled with dielectric

A metallic sub-wavelength grating with slits filled with dielectric was proposed to achieve broadband and enhanced Extraordinary Optical Transmission (EOT) for Transverse Electric (TE) wave. The physical mechanism for the improvements of the transmission spectrum was also revealed. It was found that the Fabry–Perot cavity resonance in the grating slits was the cause of the enhancement of the EOT and the waveguide modes theory was the fundamental mechanism for the broadened bandwidth of the transmission.     

Resonant transmission of microwaves through a narrow metallic slit

Strong resonant transmission of microwave radiation through a very narrow (much less than the radiation wavelength) metallic slit is recorded. The results show that a set of resonant self-coupled surface plasmons are excited within the small gap, giving a Fabry-Pérot-like behavior in accord with analytical results published earlier [Y. Takakura, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5601 (2001)]. The metallic slit, formed by two thick metal plates spaced apart by tens of microns, is inserted in a wavelength-sized aperture. On resonance the transmissivity through the metal slit is more than 2 orders of magnitude greater than the radiation impinging on the slit area.     

Plasmonic critical angle in optical transmission through subwavelength metallic gratings

We observe and theoretically analyze the plasmonic analog of the critical angle phenomenon in optical transmission through subwavelength gratings milled in an optically thick metal film. The total transmission from a denser medium to a less dense one vanishes while the total reflection holds very strong, providing the incidence angle increases past the plasmonic critical angle (PCA). The conditions and physical origins of the total internal reflection above the PCA are clarified.     

Broadband transmission enhancement of acoustic waves through tapered metallic gratings

The phenomenon of the broadband transmission enhancement of acoustic waves is important for its prospective applications in various devices. To achieve broadband transmission enhancement of acoustic waves, we investigate the acoustic transmission in a metallic grating device with linearly tapered slits through eigen-mode matching theory (EMMT) and finite element (FE) simulation. The tapering provides a gradual filling fraction variation from the entrance to the exit of the slits, destroying the Fabry–Perot resonance and thus leading to broadband and wide-angle enhanced transmission in the audible regime. In addition, acoustic waves are strongly localized and enhanced at the slit exits, in contrast with straight slits.     

Characteristics of light emission from surface plasmons based on rectangular silver gratings

We investigated the characteristics of transmitted light from propagating surface plasmons based on rectangular silver gratings. The results calculated by rigorous coupled-wave analysis presented that silver diffraction gratings can produce significant transmittance and conversion efficiency, comparable to the case of dielectric gratings. Especially, silver gratings optimized at a wide range of grating thickness and period may lead to an improved diffraction efficiency larger than 64%. Moreover, the effect of silver oxide layer on the transmittance was examined and a bimetallic structure with a thin gold coating was introduced to prevent an oxidation of silver substrates. As a practical sensor application, silver grating-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) configuration showed an enhanced sensitivity associated with an increase of surface reaction area and strong excitations of local plasmon fields, outperforming a conventional thin-film-based SPR structure.     

Extremely narrow plasmon resonances based on diffraction coupling of localized plasmons in arrays of metallic nanoparticles

We experimentally demonstrate extremely narrow plasmon resonances with half-width of just several nanometers in regular arrays of metallic nanoparticles. These resonances are observed at Rayleigh's cutoff wavelengths for Wood anomalies and based on diffraction coupling of localized plasmons. We show experimentally that reflection from an array of nanoparticles can be completely suppressed at certain wavelengths. As a result, our metal nanostructures exhibit pi-jump for the phase of the reflected light.     

On the role of interband surface plasmons in carbon nanotubes

We review the properties of collective surface excitations—excitons and interband plasmons—in single-walled and double-walled carbon nanotubes. We show that an electrostatic field applied perpendicular to the nanotube axis can control the exciton-plasmon coupling in individual small-diameter (≲nm) singlewalled nanotubes, both in the linear excitation regime and in the non-linear excitation regime with the photoinduced biexcitonic states formation. For double-walled carbon nanotubes, we report a profound effect of interband surface plasmons on the inter-tube Casimir force at tube separations similar to their equilibrium distances. Strong overlapping plasmon resonances from both tubes warrant their stronger attraction. Nanotube chiralities possessing such collective excitation features will result in forming the most favorable innerouter tube combination in double-walled carbon nanotubes. These findings pave the way for the development of new generation of tunable optoelectronic and nano-electromechanical device applications with carbon nanotubes.     

Extraordinary acoustic transmission through a 1D grating with very narrow apertures

Recently, there has been an increased interest in studying extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) through subwavelength aperture arrays perforated in a metallic film. In this Letter, we report that the transmission of an incident acoustic wave through a one-dimensional acoustic grating can also be drastically enhanced. This extraordinary acoustic transmission (EAT) has been investigated both theoretically and experimentally, showing that the coupling between the diffractive wave and the wave-guide mode plays an important role in EAT. This phenomenon can have potential applications in acoustics and also might provide a better understanding of EOT in optical subwavelength systems.     

Resonant coupling of surface plasmons to radiation modes by use of dielectric gratings

Efficient outcoupling of surface-plasma waves to radiation modes by use of dielectric diffraction gratings on a flat metallic surface is discussed. The dielectric gratings, which have a surface-relief structure with only several tens of nanometers in peak-to-trough height on a flat metal surface, can efficiently extract radiation modes propagating in free space from the surface-plasmon modes. An outcoupling efficiency of 50% is estimated with the rigorous coupled-wave diffraction theory, and it is confirmed by the experiment.