Abstract
Abstract We investigate numerically and experimentally the optical properties of the transverse electric (TE) waves supported by a dielectric-metal heterostructure. They are considered as the counterparts of the surface plasmon polaritons (i.e., the transverse magnetic (TM) waves) which have been extensively studied in the last several decades. We show that TE waves with resonant wavelengths in the visible light spectrum can be excited in a dielectric-metal heterostructure when the optical thickness of the dielectric layer exceeds a critical value. We reveal that the electric and magnetic field distributions for the TE waves are spatially separated, leading to higher quality factors or narrow linewidths as compared with the TM waves. We calculate the thickness, refractive index and incidence angle dispersion relations for the TE waves supported by a dielectric-metal heterostructure. In experiments, we observe optical resonances with linewidths as narrow as ∼10 nm in the reflection or scattering spectra of the TE waves excited in a Si3N4/Ag heterostructure. Finally, we demonstrate the applications of the lowest-order TE wave excited in a Si3N4/Ag heterostructure in optical display with good chromaticity and optical sensing with high sensitivity.
Highlights
Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which is a transverse magnetic (TM) wave (i.e., k⋅H = 0 and k⋅E ≠ 0) propagating on the surface of a metal film, have received intensive and extensive studies since 1980s [1,2,3]
As the counterpart of the TM wave, the transverse electric (TE) wave supported by a dielectric-metal heterostructure should contain one electric field component (Ey) and two magnetic field components (Hx and Hz)
While a TM wave can be excited on the surface of a bare metal, such a TE wave does not exist because of the absence of an analytical solution to the Maxwell equation
Summary
Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which is a transverse magnetic (TM) wave (i.e., k⋅H = 0 and k⋅E ≠ 0) propagating on the surface of a metal film, have received intensive and extensive studies since 1980s [1,2,3]. Different from the longitudinal electric field in SPPs, which can be generated by the collective oscillation of electrons in the metal film, the longitudinal magnetic field cannot be established on a bare metal surface. For this reason, the counterparts of SPPs, a TE wave (i.e., k⋅E = 0 and k⋅H ≠ 0) propagating on the surface of
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