Metamaterial-induced band-gap of surface plasmon propagation

Abstract

Surface plasmon propagation along a periodically corrugated metallic–air interface can be completely suppressed due to the formation of an equivalent dielectric metamaterial layer with a large real part of its effective refractive index. The effect can be explained by the transformation of the surface plasmon excitation conditions into a Brewster effect. This phenomenon leads to a high absorption of the incident light over a very wide range of incidence. One-dimensional periodicity (classical grating) leads to a single-polarization absorption, while two-dimensional periodicity (crossed grating) results in omnidirectional absorption in unpolarized light.