Enhanced optical transmission through a subwavelength 1D aperture

We present finite difference time domain simulations of the enhancement of the optical transmission through a single subwavelength slit in a thick metal film caused by resonances of the electromagnetic fields in and near the slit. These can be enhanced by including a periodic modulation on the in-coupling surface, and the dependence of the transmission on the grating structural parameters is analysed in detail. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.