In comparison with structures containing nanoparticles, relatively little effort has been spent on developing void-based structures, although many studies have looked at the optical properties of nanoholes in thin metal fi lms since the discovery of "extraordinary" transmission. [ 6 ] The optical properties of individual nanoholes and arrays thereof are now fairly well understood, [ 7 ] especially for the case of thicker (typically hundreds of nm) metal fi lms, where each interface supports its own surface plasmon polariton (SPP). Nanohole arrays in thinner fi lms (typically ∼50 nm or less), where the individual SPPs hybridize into two new modes, [8][9][10] are now also fairly well studied. [11][12][13] Due to their unique geometry, solid state nanopores in general [ 14 ] and plasmonic nanopores in particular [ 15,16 ] have proven valuable in several unique applications. For instance, since a continuous metal fi lm can operate as an electrode, additional sensing techniques can easily be implemented. [ 17,18 ] However, fabrication and optical characterization of more advanced nanopore-based structures such as apertures penetrating several fi lms is scarce. In a few cases holes continue into a dielectric supporting fi lm. [ 16,19,20 ] For the case of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) fi lms, structures with high void fractions and relatively large apertures have been fabricated [ 21,22 ] and evaluated as negative refractive index (RI) metamaterials in the near infrared. [ 21,23,24 ] Overall, the concept of MIM thin fi lms is interesting due to the appearance of new SPP modes and the possibility to utilize such modes, e.g., in waveguides. [25][26][27] However, to date nobody has presented apertures in MIM fi lms that have even a single of the following three properties: Connecting two compartments, small diameters (on the order of ∼100 nm or less) and a low (tens of percent) void fraction. As a consequence, the optical response of such structures has only been theoretically estimated [28][29][30] and there are no experimental studies on SPP excitation by nanopore arrays in MIM fi lms.In this work we show for the fi rst time fabrication of arrays of very small (down to at least 50 nm) pores penetrating suspended MIM fi lms and connecting two reservoirs (without representing a total void fraction of more than ∼10%). The dispersions and fi elds for the SPP modes of the system are solved for by extending a theoretical formalism we recently introduced. [ 31 ] With emphasis on the hybridization of the bonding mode surface plasmons, we demonstrate how the nanopore arrays can be used to excite SPP modes in the MIM structures using visible A novel type of plasmonic nanopore array in a metal-insulator-metal thin fi lm is presented. The optical properties of this structure are described using a generic theoretical framework for surface waves in a coupled multilayer system. The characteristic spacing (short-range order) of the pores enables grating-type coupling to hybridized surface plasmons, with stronger coupling to some modes tha...