Dual-band-enhanced transmission through a subwavelength aperture by coupled metamaterial resonators

In classical mechanics, it is well known that a system consisting of two identical pendulums connected by a spring will steadily oscillate with two modes: one at the fundamental frequency of a single pendulum and one in which the frequency increases with the stiffness of the spring. Inspired by this physical concept, we present an analogous approach that uses two metamaterial resonators to realize dual-band-enhanced transmission of microwaves through a subwavelength aperture. The metamaterial resonators are formed by the periodically varying and strongly localized fields that occur in the two metal split-ring resonators, which are placed gap-to-gap on either side of the aperture. The dual-band frequency separation is determined by the coupling strength between the two resonators. Measured transmission spectra, simulated field distributions, and theoretical analyses verify our approach.