Influence of the dielectric substrate on the terahertz electric near-field of a hole in a metal.

We have studied theoretically and experimentally the influence of a dielectric substrate on the frequency-dependent terahertz electric near-field of a small hole in a metal layer. We find that the near-field transmission spectrum and the two-dimensional field distribution of an empty hole in a thin metal layer on a substrate are almost identical to that of a hole which is also filled with the same dielectric material as the substrate. For thicker metal layers, however, the near-field spectra of filled and unfilled holes become very different.