Surface polaritons in symmetry planes of biaxial crystals

Abstract

The problem of the surface polariton existence in symmetry planes of nonmagnetic biaxial crystals is studied theoretically. The plane interface of such a crystal and a semi-infinite isotropic medium is considered. With the use of the integral formalism formulated in our earlier work, the dispersion equation is derived for the polaritons under consideration. The existence conditions for the dispersion equation solutions are obtained in the form of algebraic inequalities for principal values of inverse dielectric permittivity tensors. If these conditions are satisfied, then excitation of surface waves is possible along the allowed propagation directions, which constitute sectors in the interface plane. Exact expressions are obtained that determine location of these sectors with respect to the symmetry axes of the crystal.