Understanding the role of surface plasmon polaritons in two-dimensional achiral nanohole arrays for polarization conversion

TL;DR

This study investigates how surface plasmon polaritons influence polarization conversion in achiral nanohole arrays, revealing interference effects and the dependence on SPP decay rates through experiments, simulations, and analytical modeling.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of extrinsic chirality and polarization conversion mechanisms in achiral nanohole arrays using combined experimental, simulation, and theoretical approaches.

Findings

Outgoing reflection results from interference between background and SPP radiation

Polarization states vary from linear to elliptical across SPP resonance

Polarization conversion depends on SPP decay rates and sample orientation

Abstract

We have studied the dependence of the rotation angle and ellipticity on the sample orientation and incident polarization from metallic nanohole arrays. The arrays have four-fold symmetry and thus do not possess any intrinsic chirality. We elucidate the role of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in determining the extrinsic chirality and we verify the results by using finite-difference time-domain simulation. Our results have indicated the outgoing reflection arises from the interference between the nonresonant background, which preserves the input polarization, and the SPP radiation damping, which is linearly polarized but carries a different polarization defined by the vectorial field of SPPs. More importantly, the interference manifests various polarization states ranging from linear to elliptical across the SPP resonance. We analytically formulate the outgoing waves based on temporal coupled mode theory (CMT) and the results agree well with the experiment and simulation. From CMT, we find the polarization conversion depends on the interplay between the absorption and radiative decay rates of SPPs and the sample orientation.