Plasmonic evolution maps for planar metamaterials

Understanding the mode’s origin in planar metamaterials is fundamental for related applications in nanophotonics and plasmonics. For complex planar metamaterials, conventional analysis that directly obtains the final charge/current distribution of a mode is usually difficult in helping to understand the mode’s origin. In this paper, we propose a mode evolution method (MEM) with a core analysis tool, i.e., plasmonic evolution maps (PEMs), to describe the mode evolution in several complementary planar metamaterials with designed plasmonic atoms/molecules. The PEMs could not only clearly explain a mode’s origin, but also reveal the role of a structure’s symmetry in the mode formation process. The MEM with PEMs can work as a simple, efficient, and universal approach for the mode analysis in different kinds of planar metamaterials.