The role of localized surface plasmon modes in the enhanced transmission of periodic subwavelength apertures

After reviewing the present understanding of the transmission properties of single apertures and the enhanced transmission through hole arrays, experimental results are presented which show how localized surface plasmon (LSP) modes of individual apertures contribute to the transmission peaks associated with the periodic arrays. In particular, it is shown that the surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) of the periodic structure dominate the spectral signature of the arrays. The results also indicate that the LSP of each hole can interact and that this can be controlled by appropriate arrangement of the apertures in the array.