Study of Extraordinary Transmission in a Circular Waveguide System

Extraordinary transmission through periodic distributions of sub-wavelength holes made in opaque screens has been demonstrated and exhaustively studied along the last decade. More recently, extraordinary transmission has also been predicted and experimentally observed through electrically small diaphragms located inside hollow pipe waveguides. This last phenomenon cannot be explained in terms of surface waves excited along the periodic system (the so-called surface plasmon polaritons). Transverse resonances can be invoked, however, as a sound explanation for extraordinary transmission in this kind of systems. In this paper, a simple waveguide system, exhibiting exactly the same behavior previously observed in periodic 2-D arrays of holes, is analyzed in depth. Analogies and differences with the periodic case are discussed. The theoretical and experimental results reported in this paper provide strong evidence in favor of the point of view emphasizing the concept of impedance matching versus surface wave excitation. The role of material losses is discussed as an important practical issue limiting the maximum achievable subwavelength transmission level. Most of our conclusions can be applied to both periodic arrays of holes and diaphragms in closed waveguides.