Observation of a nonradiative flat band for spoof surface plasmons in a metallic Lieb lattice

Abstract: We demonstrate a nonradiative flat band for spoof surface plasmon polaritons bounded on a structured surface with Lieb lattice symmetry in the terahertz regime. First, we theoretically derive the dispersion relation of spoof plasmons in a metallic Lieb lattice based on the electrical circuit model. We obtain three bands, one of which is independent of wave vector. To confirm the theoretical result, we numerically and experimentally observe the flat band in transmission and attenuated total reflection configurations. We reveal that the quality factor of the nonradiative flat-band mode decoupled from the propagating wave is higher than that of the radiative flat-band mode. This indicates that the nonradiative flat-band mode is three-dimensionally confined in the lattice.