Abstract

Cutting-edge nanophotonic systems are increasingly displaying a magnetic, as well as an electric optical response that, for example, is integral to phenomena such as negative-index of refraction [1]. For these applications, and for many others such as those based on extraordinary optical transmission [2], the details of the response are important. For example, for negative index metamaterials the spectral location of the magnetic and electric resonances determines the window in which the material has n < 0. It is therefore surprising that for holes, which are the basic elements of many nanophotonic systems, there has been no systematic study that separates and explains both their electric and magnetic responses. In fact, it was only last year that the electric contribution to the scattered field that results from a surface wave – subwavelength hole interaction was quantified [3].

© 2013 IEEE