Interface modes in nanostructured metal-dielectric metamaterials

We study surface modes at an interface separating two different layered metal-dielectric metamaterials. We demonstrate that, in a sharp contrast to the effective-medium approach predicting a single interface mode with the surface-plasmon dispersion, the transfer-matrix method reveals the existence of three types of localized interface modes, including a backward interface mode. These results confirm that metal-dielectric nanostructured metamaterials can demonstrate strong optical nonlocality due to the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3643152]