title: Topography-induced polarization anisotropy in mesoscale structures.
abstract: Optical polarization anisotropy on the surface of subwavelength air-dielectric structures was studied by polarization-modulation near-field optical microscopy. A large degree of polarization anisotropy was measured in the higher topographic region of transparent gratings. In two-dimensional air-hole arrays, the largerpolarization anisotropy occurs in the dielectric regions. Both dielectric and air regions have a 90 degrees difference in the directions of maximum transmission. From calculations with the finite-difference time-domain method, we verified that diffracted light from the mesoscale topographic edges contributes to polarization anisotropy and directional differences.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Science and Engineering Research, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsieh-Li
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Yi-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Pei-Kuen
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Wei