corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 94 » Issue 5
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 053901 (2005) [4 pages]

Plasmon-Assisted Two-Slit Transmission: Young’s Experiment Revisited

Download: PDF (241 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

H. F. Schouten1, N. Kuzmin2, G. Dubois2, T. D. Visser1, G. Gbur3, P. F. A. Alkemade4, H. Blok5, G. W. ’t Hooft2,6, D. Lenstra1,7, and E. R. Eliel2,*
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Free University, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2Huygens Laboratory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9504, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
3Department of Physics & Optical Science, UNC Charlotte, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 29223, USA
4Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Applied Physics, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ, Delft, The Netherlands
5Department of Electrical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
6Philips Research Laboratories, Prof. Holstlaan 4, 5656 AA Eindhoven, The Netherlands
7COBRA Research Institute, Eindhoven Univerity of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Received 24 September 2004; published 7 February 2005

We present an experimental and theoretical study of the optical transmission of a thin metal screen perforated by two subwavelength slits, separated by many optical wavelengths. The total intensity of the far-field double-slit pattern is shown to be reduced or enhanced as a function of the wavelength of the incident light beam. This modulation is attributed to an interference phenomenon at each of the slits, instead of at the detector. The interference arises as a consequence of the excitation of surface plasmons propagating from one slit to the other.

© 2005 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.053901
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.053901
PACS:
42.79.Dj, 73.20.Mf, 78.66.Bz

*Electronic address: eliel@molphys.leidenuniv.nl

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >