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The presence of tiny holes in an opaque metal film, with sizes smaller than the wavelength of incident light, leads to a wide
variety of unexpected optical properties such as strongly enhanced transmission of light through the holes and wavelength
filtering. These intriguing effects are now known to be due to the interaction of the light with electronic resonances in the
surface of the metal film, and they can be controlled by adjusting the size and geometry of the holes. This knowledge is
opening up exciting new opportunities in applications ranging from subwavelength optics and optoelectronics to chemical
sensing and biophysics.
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