Funneling light through a subwavelength aperture with epsilon-near-zero materials

We present a comprehensive study of enhanced light funneling through a subwavelength aperture with realistic (lossy) epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials. We realize experimentally an inclusion-free ENZ material layer operating at optical frequencies and characterize its performance. An analytical expression describing light funneling through several structures involving ENZ coupling layers is developed, validated with numerical solutions of Maxwell equations, and utilized to relate the performance of the ENZ coupling systems to their main limiting factor, material losses.