Wavefront shaping of infrared light through a subwavelength hole

Yu Hui Chen, Lu Huang, Lin Gan, Zhi Yuan Li*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

71 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Light passing through a subwavelength hole in an opaque plate is a fundamental concern in both optical science and applications. Using both simulations and experiments, we show that, when a subwavelength hole in a silver thin film is surrounded by well-designed patterns of grooves, the wavefront of the infrared light through it can be shaped into a preset complicated pattern such as a Latin letter 'L' or 'O' at a given position instead of being diffracted in all directions. The design is created via the surface-wave- holography method, which allows direct determination of the surface plasmonic structure for a given wavefront-engineering functionality without the need to solve complex inverse problems. The results will deepen current understanding of this enduring issue and will find applications in many fields such as wave manipulation and sensing.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere26
JournalLight: Science and Applications
Volume1
Issue numberAUGUST
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Plasmonics
  • Subwavelength hole
  • Surface wave holography
  • Wavefront shaping

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Chen, Y. H., Huang, L., Gan, L., & Li, Z. Y. (2012). Wavefront shaping of infrared light through a subwavelength hole. Light: Science and Applications, 1(AUGUST), Article e26. https://doi.org/10.1038/lsa.2012.26