THE OPTICS OF SURFACE AND GUIDED WAVE POLARITONS

In this review we describe a numerical method for the study of the reflection, transmission, and conversion into volume electromagnetic fields of surface polaritons or radiation fields incident (a) onto the end face of a surface polariton active medium or (b) from one polariton active medium to another separated from it by barrier of variable width, and present results obtained by this approach. Analogous problems in which guided wave polaritons interact with material and/or geometrical discontinuities in their propagation path are also considered. The method is based on placing shorting planes above and below the surface along which the surface polaritons and/or guided wave polaritons propagate. The presence of these shorting planes renders the electromagnetic modes of the resulting closed wave-guided discrete, and they provide a convenient basis in which to expand the reflected and transmitted fields, as well as the volume electromagnetic field in the region above the surface. © 1990.