Optical excitation of surface plasma waves in layered media

G. J. Kovacs and G. D. Scott
Phys. Rev. B 16, 1297 – Published 15 August 1977
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Abstract

The method of frustrated total reflection is used to optically excite electromagnetic surface plasma waves (SPW) in two different layered structures. The first system studied has two films (MgF2-Ag) between glass and air, and the second has three films (Ag-MgF2-Ag) between glass and air. Surface roughness of the evaporated MgF2 films is found to increase with film thickness and this roughness has a pronounced effect on the SPW resonances. A cermet is imagined to form at the MgF2-Ag interface, and its effective optical constants can be evaluated using the Maxwell Garnett theory. If this cermet is treated as a separate layer in the structure, then good agreement is found with the experimentally observed resonances. A calculation of the Poynting vector field, current distributions, and surface charge densities, resulting from an incident monochromatic plane wave, shows the different modes of oscillation corresponding to each resonance.

  • Received 3 January 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.16.1297

©1977 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

G. J. Kovacs and G. D. Scott

  • Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M5S 1A7

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Vol. 16, Iss. 4 — 15 August 1977

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