Optical near-fields of triangular nanostructures

We compare simulations of optical near-fields of single triangular nanostructures with experimental results from a near-field ablation technique on a periodic arrangement of triangles. We find good agreement of the lateral near-field distributions; nevertheless their dependency on the polarization of the incident light differs by 90°. Upon increasing the lateral distances of the nanotriangle arrangement in the experiment, the polarization dependence agrees with the simulation. We conclude that this at first sight unexpected behaviour stems from the coupling of near-fields by scattered surface waves and their interaction with the incoming beam.