Surface electromagnetic wave excitation on one-dimensional photonic band-gap arrays

Abstract

Experiments are described on the prism-coupled excitation of surface electromagnetic waves in one-dimensional photonic band-gap arrays. The low loss of photonic band-gap materials leads to narrow angular reflectivity resonances and high surface fields. These attributes, coupled with the ability to engineer the optical properties of photonic band-gap arrays, suggest these materials as powerful replacements for metal films in many applications that make use of surface-plasmon resonance.