Coupling between surface plasmon polaritons and transverse electric polarized light via L-shaped nano-apertures

Given that plasmonic fields are intrinsically transverse magnetic (TM), coupling surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and transverse electric (TE) polarized light, especially at nanoscale, remain challenging. We propose the use of L-shaped nano-apertures to overcome this fundamental limitation and enable coupling between SPPs and TE polarized light. Polarization conversion originates from the interference of two resonant modes excited in the nano-apertures and the nearly 180° phase retardation between them. The experiments show that both TE-to-plasmon and plasmon-to-TE couplings can be implemented at the subwavelength scale. This discovery provides great freedom when manipulating light based on SPPs at the nanoscale and helps in using the energy of TE polarized light.