Beaming and enhanced transmission through a subwavelength aperture via epsilon-near-zero media

We numerically validate and experimentally realize considerable funneling of electromagnetic energy through a subwavelength aperture that is covered with an epsilon-near-zero metamaterial (ENZ). The epsilon-near-zero metamaterial is composed of two layers of metasurfaces and operates at microwave frequencies. We demonstrate that the presence of the metamaterial at the inner and outer sides of the aperture not only lead to a significant enhancement in light transmission, but also cause a directional emission of light extracting from this hybrid system. In addition to these experimental results, we theoretically demonstrate the same concept in mid-IR region for a subwavelength gold aperture with indium tin oxide as an epsilon-near-zero material. Moreover, we found that using a dielectric spacer in-between the sunwavelength aperture and the ENZ medium, it is possible to red-shift the enhancement/directional frequency of the system. © 2017 The Author(s)