Numerical Confirmation of Multi-Reflections of Light Inside a Subwavelength Metal Slit Structure

The propagation behavior of light passing through a subwavelength metal slit structure is usually modeled by a Fabry-Perot (FP) resonant cavity based on the feature of transmission spectra. However, this mechanism belongs to a conjecture and it should be proven. We present a direct evidence from the numerical simulations of the amplitude distribution of the magnetic field by employing the time-domain simulation method. The light propagation behavior clearly shows a multi-reflection process inside a subwavelength slit as soon as it enters the slit. An analytical formula for calculating the field distribution involving the multi-reflection process is presented, and the theoretical calculations agree with the numerically simulated results. Our results provide explicit evidence that the FP model is reasonable to the description of the propagation process of light inside a subwavelength slit structure.