Structural Symmetry of Two-dimensional Metallic Arrays: Implications for Surface Plasmon Excitations

TL;DR

This paper investigates the symmetry properties of (0,+/- 1)-type surface plasmon polaritons in a gold 2D nano-cavity array, revealing how light polarization influences SPP excitation and field distribution, with implications for plasmon manipulation.

Contribution

It introduces a finite-difference time-domain study of (0,+/- 1)-SPPs in gold nano-cavities, focusing on polarization effects and symmetry properties, which was less explored in prior research.

Findings

Polarization significantly affects SPP field distribution.

Symmetry properties of (0,+/- 1)-SPPs are characterized.

Control of polarization can manipulate SPPs effectively.

Abstract

In recent years, there has been intensive investigation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in the science and engineering fields. Understanding the physics of surface plasmon excitation is essential to the manipulation of SPPs, and most existing studies focus on (-1,0)-type SPP excitation. In this article, we report our recent investigation of the (0,+/- 1)-type SPP excitation of a gold two-dimensional nano-cavity array using finite-difference time-domain methodology. Our particular focus is on the symmetry properties of (0,+/- 1)-SPPs excited by different polarizations of light. It is found that polarization has strong implications for the field distribution of the corresponding SPPs. As a result, the control of polarization may provide important insights into the manipulation of SPPs.