Transmission of light through slit apertures in metallic films

Transmission of polarized light through subwavelength slit apertures is studied based on the electromagnetic field distributions obtained in finite difference time domain computer simulations. The results show the existence of a cutoff for E/sub /spl par// and a strong transmission (with no cutoff) for E/sub /spl perp//, where /spl par/ and /spl perp/ refer to the direction of the incident E-field relative to the long axis of the slit. Interference between the charges and currents induced in the vicinity of two adjacent slits is shown to result in enhanced transmission through both slits when the slits are separated by about one- half of one wavelength.