Enhanced transmission through a sub-wavelength aperture: resonant approaches employing metamaterials

New approach for extraordinary transmission through an array of subwavelength apertures using thin ENNZ metamaterial liners

Extraordinary transmission (ET) through a periodic array of subwavelength apertures on a perfect metallic screen has been studied extensively in recent years, and has largely been attributed to diffraction effects, for which the periodicity of the apertures, rather than their dimensions, dominates the response. The transmission properties of the apertures at resonance, on the other hand, are not typically considered 'extraordinary' because they may be explained using more conventional aperture-theoretical mechanisms. This work describes a novel approach for achieving ET in which subwavelength apertures are made to resonate by lining them using thin, epsilon-negative and near-zero (ENNZ) metamaterials. The use of ENNZ metamaterials has recently proven successful in miniaturizing circular waveguides by strongly reducing their natural cutoff frequencies, and the theory is adapted here for the design of subwavelength apertures in a metallic screen. We present simulations and proof-of-concept measurements at microwave frequencies that demonstrate ET for apertures measuring one-quarter of a wavelength in diameter and suggest the potential for even more dramatic miniaturization simply by engineering the ENNZ metamaterial dispersion. The results exhibit a fano-like profile whose frequency varies with the properties of the metamaterial liner, but is independent of period. It is suggested that similar behaviour can be obtained at optical frequencies, where ENNZ metamaterials may be realized using appropriately arranged chains of plasmonic nanoparticles.

Broadband extraordinary transmission in a single sub-wavelength aperture

Coordinate transformation is applied to design an all-dielectric device for Extraordinary Transmission (ET) in a single sub-wavelength slit. The proposed device has a broadband feature and can be applied from microwave to visible frequency bands. Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) simulations are used to verify the device's performance. The results show that significantly increased transmission is achieved through the sub-wavelength aperture from 4 GHz to 8 GHz when the device is applied. In contrast with previously reported systems, the frequency sensitivity of the new device is very low.

Transmission enhancement through deep subwavelength apertures using connected split ring resonators

We report astonishingly high transmission enhancement factors through a subwavelength aperture at microwave frequencies by placing connected split ring resonators in the vicinity of the aperture. We carried out numerical simulations that are consistent with our experimental conclusions. We experimentally show higher than 70,000-fold extraordinary transmission through a deep subwavelength aperture with an electrical size of lambda/31 x lambda/12 (width x length), in terms of the operational wavelength. We discuss the physical origins of the phenomenon. Our numerical results predict that even more improvements of the enhancement factors are attainable. Theoretically, the approach opens up the possibility for achieving very large enhancement factors by overcoming the physical limitations and thereby minimizes the dependence on the aperture geometries.