Enhance transmission through a subwavelength slit on a bending metal substrate

The optical transmission and distribution through a subwavelength slit on a tapered metallic substrate was investigated. By using a 45° tapered structure, 6 times larger transmission enhancement was achieved compared with a traditional metallic plate structure because of the asymmetric excited surface waves and the matching of propagation constants between the surface waves and slit waveguide. In addition, a focus beam was obtained by patterning surface corrugations in the exit plane. By tuning the period of the surface corrugations, we were able to adjust the focal length with a spot size smaller than the diffraction limit. The focal point can be kept about 0.6μm with a focal length from 0.5μm to 2.5μm for a grating period from 0.5μm to 0.6μm.