Abstract

Metamaterials are artificial materials with subwavelength structure¹ that enable the translation of magnetic² and electric responses³ into spectral regions not accessible through naturally occurring materials. Here, we report direct measurements of the propagation and confinement of terahertz electromagnetic surface modes tightly bound to flat plasmonic metamaterials that consist of metal surfaces decorated with two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-periodicity pits. These modes are surface plasmon polaritons with an effective plasma frequency controlled entirely by the surface geometry⁴. The mode spectrum and penetration depth into air demonstrate strong wavelength-scale energy confinement to the surface below the electromagnetic band edge; this is in stark contrast to the very weak confinement found at flat metal surfaces in this spectral regime. The results are in good agreement with analytical and numerical models of surface plasmon polaritons propagating on structured perfect-conductor surfaces, and imply that plasmonic metamaterials could help miniaturize optical components or lead to improved chemical or biochemical sensors.

1. Department of Physics, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
2. Experimental Solid State Group, Physics Department, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK
3. Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-28049 Madrid, Spain
4. Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Facultad de Ciencias-ICMA, Universidad de Zaragoza-CSIC, E-50009 Zaragoza, Spain

Correspondence to: S. A. Maier² e-mail: S.Maier@imperial.ac.uk

Correspondence to: F. J. García-Vidal³ e-mail: fj.garcia@uam.es

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