Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lezec, H. J.
• Degiron, A.
• Devaux, E.
• Linke, R. A.
• Martin-Moreno, L.
• Garcia-Vidal, F. J.
• Ebbesen, T. W.

Titel

Beaming Light from a Subwavelength Aperture

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2002-08, Vol.297 (5582), p.820-822

Ort / Verlag

Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2002

Quelle

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Light usually diffracts in all directions when it emerges from a subwavelength aperture, which puts a lower limit on the size of features that can be used in photonics. This limitation can be overcome by creating a periodic texture on the exit side of a single aperture in a metal film. The transmitted light emerges from the aperture as a beam with a small angular divergence (approximately ±3°) whose directionality can be controlled. This finding is especially surprising, considering that the radiating region is mainly confined to an area with lateral dimensions comparable to the wavelength of the light. The device occupies no more than one cubic micrometer and, when combined with enhanced transmission, suggests that a wide range of photonic applications is possible.