Analysis of phase shift of surface plasmon polaritons at metallic subwavelength hole arrays

We present the transmission spectra of light transmitting a metallic thin film perforated with differently shaped subwavelength hole arrays, which are calculated by a plane-wave-based transfer matrix method. We analyze the transmission peak positions and the phase-shift angles of different surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes by using the microscopic theoretical model proposed by Haitao Liu and Philippe Lalanne [Liu Haitao and Lalanne Philippe 2008 Nature 452 728], in which the phase shift properties of the SPPs scattered by the subwavelength hole arrays are considered. The results show that the transmission peak position and the minus phase shift angle of the SPP increase as the hole size increases. On the other hand, the effective dielectric constant of the metallic film can be deduced by the microscopic theoretical model. (condensed matter: structural, mechanical, and thermal properties)