SURFACE PLASMONS ON UNIAXIAL CRYSTALS WITH GRATING SURFACES

Abstract

In this paper we calculate the dispersion relation of surface plasmons propagating on uniaxial crystals, upon which a periodic grating has been built. The Rayleigh–Fano method is used, resulting in an infinite number of branches. We consider different orientations of the optical axis of the crystal, with respect to the direction of propagation. It is observed that the splitting of the surface plasmons depends not only on the ratio between the amplitude of the grating and its period (ζo/a), but also on the factor of anisotropy [Formula: see text], which changes for each optical orientation. Numerical results for the dispersion relation are obtained for α- SiO 2, and show the influence of the factor γ on the convergence of matrices.