Surface plasmon standing waves in large-area subwavelength hole arrays.

A flexible and parallel procedure to generate large-area, free-standing films of subwavelength hole arrays has been demonstrated. This method is materials-general, and multilayered films of different materials were constructed. The optical quality of these films was tested using a near-field scanning optical microscope, which revealed the formation of surface plasmon standing wave patterns that were consistent with numerical simulations. Because the properties of the holes and the film materials can be easily tailored, new types of plasmonic and photonic devices can be envisioned and tested.