Surface plasmons on zig-zag gratings

T. J. Constant, T. S. Taphouse, H. J. Rance, S. C. Kitson, A. P. Hibbins, J. R. Sambles

Abstract

Optical excitation of surface plasmons polaritons (SPPs) on a ‘zig-zag diffraction grating’ is explored. The fabricated silver grating consists of sub-wavelength grooves ‘zig-zagged’ along their length, providing a diffractive periodicity to visible radiation. SPPs propagating in the diffraction plane and scattered by an odd number of grating vectors are only excited by TE polarized radiation, whereas for TM polarized light, which also induces surface charge, SPP excitation is forbidden by the grating’s broken-mirror symmetry.