Electromagnetic energy vortex associated with sub-wavelength plasmonic Taiji marks

The Taiji symbol is a very old schematic representation of two opposing but complementary patterns in oriental civilization. Using electron beam lithography, we fabricated an array of 70 x 70 gold Taiji marks with 30nm thickness and a total area of 50 x 50 mu m(2) on a fused silica substrate. The diameter of each Taiji mark is 500nm, while the period of the array is 700nm. Here we present experimental as well as numerical simulation results pertaining to plasmonic resonances of several Taiji nano-structures under normal illumination. We have identified a Taiji structure with a particularly interesting vortex-like Poynting vector profile, which could be attributed to the special shape and dimensions of the Taiji symbol. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America