Surface-plasmon wave at the planar interface of a metal film and a structurally chiral medium

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a surface-plasmon wave can be excited at the interface between a thin metal film and a nondissipative structurally chiral medium using p-polarized light, with an estimate of its wavenumber.

Contribution

It introduces a boundary-value problem solution for a modified Kretschmann configuration showing surface-plasmon excitation at this specific interface.

Findings

Surface-plasmon wave can be excited at the interface with p-polarized light.

A method to estimate the wavenumber of the surface-plasmon wave.

Surface-plasmon excitation depends on the thinness of the metal film.

Abstract

The solution of a boundary-value problem formulated for a modified Kretschmann configuration shows that a surface-plasmon wave can be excited at the planar interface of a sufficiently thin metal film and a nondissipative structurally chiral medium, provided the exciting plane wave is p-polarized. An estimate of the wavenumber of the surface-plasmon wave also emerges thereby.