Polarization superprism effect in surface polaritonic crystals

Surface plasmon polariton waveguide modes excited in mutually orthogonal line defects of a surface polaritonic crystal (two-dimensional photonic crystal on a metal surface! are observed to be extremely sensitive to the polarization state of excitation light. Full switching between orthogonal waveguides can be achieved with less than 10degrees variation of the polarization angle. For oblique incidence, the polarization sensitivity of switching is even higher but full switching cannot be realized. This effect can be considered as a polarization-domain analog of the photonic crystal superprism effect. It suggests the possibility of building actively controlled photonic crystal devices for optical signal processing. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.