In this paper we explore from a fundamental theoretical point of view, transmission phenomena of acoustic waves transferred through a single subwavelength slit milled into a sound-hard plate that is textured by surface corrugations. It is shown that the enhanced acoustical transmission unambiguously is linked to the excitation of acoustic surface waves and Fabry-Perot modes within the aperture. With the former resonant condition, we give a prescription on how these surface waves are induced and connected to the formation of a collimated sound beam in the far field.

This work was financially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under Projects No. MAT2008-06609-C02 and No. CSD2007-046-Nanolight.es. J.C. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Carlsberg Foundation under Contract No. QUANTONICS 2009-01-0167.

6 páginas, 5 figuras.-- PACS number(s): 78.66.Bz, 42.25.Bs, 41.20.Jb, 73.20.Mf

Peer reviewed