Abstract

The effect of a dielectric overlayer on terahertz transmission through a freestanding metallic array of subwavelength holes is experimentally presented. There is a remarkable resonance redshift from 0.600 to 0.498 THz at the surface plasmon (SP) metal–dielectric resonance mode with increasing film thickness. When the overlayer film is thicker than a critical thickness, the resonance frequency becomes steady at the final resonance frequency ${\omega }_f$. On the basis of the dispersion relation of SPs, two kinds of glutamic acid enantiomers are distinguished by use of SP-enhanced terahertz spectra of metallic array of subwavelength holes according to the result of ${\omega }_f$. The terahertz plasmonic hole array with the sensitive nature provides an approach to distinguish trace amount of powder substances, which has a promising application prospect in the fields of public security and biomedical science, such as distinguishing between isomers and identifying expensive medicines and drugs.

© 2013 Optical Society of America

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