Enhanced mid-infrared transmission through a metallic diffraction grating

Abstract

We study theoretically an enhancement of the intensity of mid-infrared light transmitted through a metallic diffraction grating. We show that for s-polarized light the enhancement of the transmitted light is much stronger than for p-polarized light. By tuning the parameters of the diffraction grating, the enhancement of the transmitted light can be increased by a few orders of magnitude. The spatial distribution of the transmitted light is highly nonuniform with very sharp peaks, which have spatial widths of about 10 nm.