Shaping single emitter emission with metallic hole arrays: strong focusing of dipolar radiation

Nanoscale plasmonic structures allow for control of the emission of single emitters, such as fluorescent molecules and quantum dots, enabling phenomena such as lifetime reduction, emission redirection and color sorting of photons. We present single emitter emission tailored with arrays of holes of heterogeneous size, perforated in a gold film. With spatial control of the local amplitude and phase of the electromagnetic field radiated by the emitter, a desired near- or far-field distribution of the electromagnetic waves can be obtained. This control is established by varying the aspect ratio of the individual holes and the periodicity of the array surrounding the emitter. As an example showing the versatility of the technique, we present the strong focusing of the radiation of a highly divergent dipole source, for both p- and s-polarized waves.