Compact planar lenses based on a pinhole and an array of single mode metallic slits

Abstract

Plasmonic lenses are based on complex combinations of nanoscale high aspect ratio slits. We show that their design can be greatly simplified, keeping similar performance while releasing technological constraints. The simplified system, called Huygens lens, consists in a central aperture surrounded by several identical single mode slits in a thin gold layer that does not rely anymore on surface plasmons. The focusing behaviour with respect to the position and number of slits is investigated, and we demonstrate the interest of this design to get compact array of lenses.