Emission control with metallic hole arrays

Adding holes in a periodic arrangement to metallic thin films greatly affects the optical properties of the metal film. The compound structure can exert a large influence on electromagnetic fields that interact with the hole array. Many parameters affect the actual response of the hole arrays to electromagnetic fields, such as the periodicity, the size of the holes and their shape. Here, we will show by calculation that the angular emission and lifetime of emitters, embedded in hole arrays comprised of rectangular holes with varying aspect ratio, depend strongly on the hole aspect ratio. Specifically, changing the aspect ratio of the holes leads to a large variety in far-field emission patterns and a more than 10-fold changes in decay rate of a single emitter placed in the central hole of such an array.