Surface plasmon polaritons assisted diffraction in metal films with subwavelength hole array

Metal films grown on Si wafer have been perforated with a periodic hole array and anomalous enhanced transmission in the subwavelength regime has been observed. High-order transmission peaks up to Si(2,2) are clearly revealed due to the large dielectric constant of Si against that of the air. Si(1,1) peak splits into two branches at oblique incidence both in TE and in TM polarization, which confirms that anomalous enhanced transmission is a surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) assisted diffraction phenomenon.