One dimensional electromagnetic waves on flat surfaces

S A R Horsley,I R Hooper

doi:10.1088/0022-3727/47/43/435103

Abstract

We show that one-dimensional electromagnetic waves can be constrained to propagate along a join between two thin sheets when one surface supports transverse magnetic polarized surface waves and the other supports transverse electric polarized surface waves. We calculate the dispersion relation of these modes and show that they are exceptionally tightly confined to the join, with characteristic decay lengths an order of magnitude smaller than the surface waves supported by each individual surface. We give an example of a metasurface implementation where low frequency instances of such waves may be observed.

Highlights

We show that one dimensional electromagnetic waves can be constrained to propagate along a join between two thin sheets when one surface supports TM polarised surface waves and the other supports TE polarised surface waves
The surface plasmon polariton (SPP) [1] is the most common example, and is a wave that is bound to an interface between media with opposite signs of permittivity
This is somewhat reminiscent of the electrostatic limit of a surface plasmon, where the field decays at an equal rate on each side of a planar interface between two media with permittivity of equal magnitude and opposite sign [1], we emphasize that in this case the decay is away from the line x = y = 0

Summary

Introduction

We show that one dimensional electromagnetic waves can be constrained to propagate along a join between two thin sheets when one surface supports TM polarised surface waves and the other supports TE polarised surface waves. The surface plasmon polariton (SPP) [1] is the most common example, and is a wave that is bound to an interface between media with opposite signs of permittivity.

Results

Conclusion