Polarization-Independent Plasmon-Induced Transparency in a Symmetric Metamaterial

We propose a novel mechanism for generating electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a symmetric metamaterial. The proposed metamaterial consists of double nanorod pairs, perpendicular to each other in the form of a 2-by-2 matrix. This metamaterial shows a polarization-independent EIT-like effect without breaking its symmetry. Since conventional plasmonic EIT metamaterials induce transparency in the transparent window through the coupling between the localized surface plasmon resonance modes, most of existing structures have asymmetric geometry. This limitation means the EIT-like effect can occur only under a particular linearly polarized incident light. The proposed structure, however, has a simple geometry and polarization independence, so it has the potential to be used in high sensitivity sensors and to slow light in the visible spectral range.