Near-Field Analysis of Bright and Dark Modes on Plasmonic Metasurfaces Showing Extraordinary Suppressed Transmission

Plasmonic metasurfaces are investigated that consist of a sub wavelength line pattern in an ultrathin (~ 10 nm) silver film, designed for extraordinarily suppressed transmission (EOST) in the visible spectral range. Measurements with a near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) demonstrate that far field irradiation creates resonant excitations of antenna like (bright) modes that are localized on the metal ridges. In contrast, bound (dark) surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) launched from an NSOM tip propagate well across the metasurface, preferentially perpendicular to the grating lines.