Imaging of polarization rotation in transmission resonances of periodic plasmonic structures

Abstract

We imaged polarization rotation of transmitted light in 1D Periodic Plasmonic Structures (PPS) fabricated on thin metal coated dielectric substrate. Several PPS of 50% duty cycle and extremely low aspect ratio (height to width ratio) of 0.1 were designed using rigorous coupled wave analysis to exhibit transmission plasmonic resonances at optical wavelengths (400 nm to 700 nm). PPS were fabricated using electron beam lithography, evaporation and lift-off process on glass substrates coated with thin metal. The PPS were characterized using normally incident broadband visible light and crossaxis Polarizer Analyzer setup, with the transmitted light imaged in direct and momentum space using a camera. When the cross axis Polarizer Analyzer were positioned at +45° & -45° respectively w.r.t. plane of incidence, bright emissions of Green, Yellow or Red colors corresponding to transmission plasmonic resonances of the PPS with different periods, were observed in both direct and Fourier planes, instead of completely dark images. From the measured emission momentum in Fourier plane images and spectra of collected light, the emissions were attributed to the excitations of surface plasmons and the reason for surface plasmon excitation in this arrangement is strong coupling of hybrid modes with each other caused by the anisotropy introduced by grating which strongly enhances the efficiency of Polarization rotation. The presented structures behave as frequency selective half wave plates in transmission configuration and could also be used to eliminate the effect of direct beam while imaging the coupling to surface plasmons in periodic structures.