Surface Plasmon Polaritons Sustained at the Interface of a Nonlocal Metamaterial

TL;DR

This paper investigates how nonlocality affects surface plasmon polaritons at the interface of a specific metamaterial, providing theoretical predictions for observable phenomena that can reveal nonlocal effects in experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of nonlocal effects on surface plasmon polaritons in metamaterials, including dispersion relations and conditions for their existence, which are novel in this context.

Findings

Nonlocality significantly alters surface plasmon polariton dispersion.

Different behaviors are observed for TE and TM polarizations.

Predictions for experimental reflection measurements are provided.

Abstract

Studying basic physical effects sustained in metamaterials characterized by specific constitutive relation is a research topic with a long standing tradition. Besides intellectual curiosity, it derives its importance from the ability to predict observable phenomena that are, if found with an actual metamaterial, a clear indication on its properties. Here, we consider a nonlocal (strong spatial dispersion), lossy, and isotropic metamaterial and study the impact of the nonlocality on the dispersion relation of surface plasmon polaritons sustained at an interface between vacuum and such metamaterial. For that, Fresnel coefficients are calculated and appropriate surface plasmon polaritons existence conditions are being proposed. Predictions regarding the experimentally observable reflection from a frustrated internal reflection geometry are being made. A different behavior for TE and TM polarization is observed. Our work unlocks novel opportunities to seek for traces of the nonlocality in experiments made with nowadays metamaterials.