Enhanced optical transmission through subwavelength hole arrays in metal films

What changed

Scientific scope

Ebbesen and colleagues measured unexpectedly strong, wavelength-dependent transmission through periodic arrays of tiny holes in metal films. Sharp peaks appeared even when the wavelength was far larger than a hole; the patterns changed with the spacing, metal and illumination angle. The reported efficiency can exceed one because it is normalized to the area of the holes, not because the array emits more energy than falls on the whole illuminated region. The authors connected the effect to surface excitations but did not establish a complete microscopic coupling mechanism for every geometry.

Evidence

The linked original works support the scoped statement and contribution attribution. WRS has not independently replayed experiments or reconstructed a full mathematical proof. The reported efficiency can exceed one because it is normalized to the area of the holes, not because the array emits more energy than falls on the whole illuminated region. The authors connected the effect to surface excitations but did not establish a complete microscopic coupling mechanism for every geometry.

Contributors

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