Semi-analytical method for light interaction with 1D-periodic nanoplasmonic structures

We present a detailed description of a computationally efficient, semi-analytical method (SAM) to calculate the electomagnetic field distribution in a 1D-periodic, subwavelength-structured metal film placed between dielectric substrates. The method is roughly three orders of magnitude faster than the finite-element method (FEM). SAM is used to study the resonant transmission of light through nanoplasmonic structures, and to analyze the role of fundamental and higher-order Bloch surface plasmons in transmission enhancement. The method is also suitable for solving the eigenvalue problem and finding modes of the structure. Results obtained with SAM, FEM, and the finite-difference time-domain method show very good agreement for various parameters of the structure.