Optical Transmission through Subwavelength Metallic Slit Arrays

Mid-Infrared radiative property of submicron silver slit arrays have been numerically studied with the finite difference time domain method. The slit width varies from 50 nm to 300 nm and a square feature may attach at either or both slit sides. Although the side length of features is one or two orders of magnitude shorter than the wavelength, the attached nanoscale features can modify the transmittance significantly. The transmittance has also been furtherly investigated in detail by looking into electromagnetic fields and Poynting vectors of selected slit geometries. The investigation results show that such change can be attributed to the cavity resonance effect inside the slit arrays. The work is of great importance to the wavelength-selective devices design in optical devices and thermal applications field.