Journal ArticleWe studied the optical transmission and magneto-optical effect through a subwavelength hole array fabricated on a ferromagnetic cobalt (Co) thin film in comparison to a control unperforated Co film having the same thickness. We found that the perforated film sustains extraordinary transmission bands through the hole array, which can be well explained as due to light coupling to surface plasmons on the two film interfaces. We also found that due to resonant coupling to the surface plasmons, the magneto-optical Kerr effect in the spectral range of the anomalous transmission bands of the perforated Co film is much smaller than that in the control Co film
