title: Direct evidence for surface plasmon-mediated enhanced light transmission through metallic nanohole arrays.
abstract: This paper provides direct evidence for the role of surface plasmons in the enhanced optical transmission of light through metallic nanoscale hole arrays. Near-field optical images directly confirmed the presence of surface plasmons on gold nanohole arrays with interhole spacings larger than the surface plasmon wavelength. A simple interference model provides an intuitive explanation of the two types of fringe wavelengths observed in the near-field optical images. Far-field spectroscopy revealed a surface plasmon band that contributed a factor > 8 to the transmission enhancement. Furthermore, silicon nanohole arrays did not exhibit any features in the near-field, which demonstrates that metallic materials are necessary for enhanced light transmission through nanohole arrays.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Hanwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Henzie
authors.forename: Teri W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Odom
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D008422:Materials Testing; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D016062:Porosity; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000379:methods*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D006046:Gold