Narrow-band, tunable infrared emission from arrays of microstrip patches

We demonstrate through a combination of theory and experiment that an array of microstrip patches leads to a surface with sharp and tunable emission bands. The physical mechanisms and locations for various emission peaks are described via both analytical theory and numerical simulations. These predictions agree well with our experimental data, taken on systems designed to emit strongly in the infrared. The main peak, which arises from plasmons trapped under a patch, can be well separated from other spectral structures, narrow in wavelength, but broad in angular distribution. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.