Observation of a nonradiative flat band for spoof surface plasmons in a metallic Lieb lattice

TL;DR

This paper reports the experimental observation of a nonradiative flat band for spoof surface plasmons in a metallic Lieb lattice, demonstrating high-quality confinement in the terahertz regime.

Contribution

It introduces the first experimental demonstration of a nonradiative flat band for spoof surface plasmons in a structured metallic Lieb lattice, supported by theoretical, numerical, and experimental analysis.

Findings

Identification of a nonradiative flat band in the Lieb lattice

Higher quality factor for nonradiative mode compared to radiative mode

Confirmation of three-dimensional confinement of the flat-band mode

Abstract

We demonstrate a nonradiative flat band for spoof surface plasmon polaritons bounded on a structured surface with Lieb lattice symmetry in the terahertz regime. First, we theoretically derive the dispersion relation of spoof plasmons in a metallic Lieb lattice based on the electrical circuit model. We obtain three bands, one of which is independent of wave vector. To confirm the theoretical result, we numerically and experimentally observe the flat band in transmission and attenuated total reflection configurations. We reveal that the quality factor of the nonradiative flat-band mode decoupled from the propagating wave is higher than that of the radiative flat-band mode. This indicates that the nonradiative flat-band mode is three-dimensionally confined in the lattice.