Virtual lattice resonance of a single nanoresonator in a metal nanoslit

We study the transmission through a subwavelength metallic slit loaded with a single nanoresonator. To gain physical insight into the problem a theoretical model combining the dipole approximation and image theory is developed. The model shows that the coupling between the single nanoresonator and the slit's cavity modes serves as a localized analog to an infinite nanoresonator array. This virtual array supports a surface image-lattice resonance due to the coherent self-scattering of the single nanoresonator. Thereby, it may lead to the ability to mimic many recently reported intriguing physical phenomena of real surface-lattice resonances in nanoresonator arrays, by a single-subwavelength system. We specifically show that it leads to enhanced light-matter interaction, and to the appearance of an extraordinary transmission window. The theoretical results are in good agreement with full-wave numerical simulations.