Surface plasmons of metallic surfaces perforated by nanoholes

Recent works dealt with the optical transmission on arrays of subwavelength holes perforated in a thick metallic film. We have performed simulations which quantitatively agree with experimental results and which unambiguously evidence that the extraordinary transmission is due to the excitation of a surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) mode on the metallic film interfaces. We identify this SPP mode and show that its near-field possesses a hybrid character, gathering collective and localised effects which are both essential for the transmission.