Enhancement of light transmission by coupling to surface plasmon polaritons of a layer-plus-islands silver layer

Enhanced light transmission through coupling incident light with surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on a layer-plus-islands nanostructure Ag layer, surrounded by symmetric ZnO dielectrics (ZnO/Ag/ZnO), was investigated. The couple and decouple processes at ZnO/Ag and Ag/ZnO grating interfaces were considered to confine the incident light to SPPs (near field) and then to excite the SPPs to radiate light (far field), which enhanced light transmission. A broad range of light transmission enhancement showed a blueshift with increasing Ag midlayer mass thickness. The physical reasons for light transmission enhancement were theoretically discussed using both the metal/dielectric grating interface model and the Drude-Lorentz free electron model. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3259426]