Surface plasmon-polariton waves obliquely guided along interface containing periodicity direction of one-dimensional photonic crystal

Abstract

We recently formulated the canonical boundary-value problem of propagation of surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves along the direction of periodicity of a one-dimensional photonic crystal. Here we present the general formulation of that canonical problem supporting the oblique propagation of SPP waves in the interface plane. The general dispersion equation has been obtained using the rigorous coupled-wave approach (RCWA) for the oblique propagation and numerically solved using the Muller’s method. The RCWA formulation is developed for the general eigenvalue problem solved here. A periodicity in the wavenumbers of the SPP waves was observed. Furthermore, the regions of high losses for the SPP waves, dubbed as plasmonic bandgaps, were observed in the photonic band diagram of the SPP waves. These plasmonic badngaps can be used to construct optical filters for the SPP waves.