Magnetooptic effects in surface-plasmon-polaritons slab waveguides

This paper analyzes the magnetooptic (MO) effects in surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) propagating in thin metallic layers as a function of the metal thickness. Two different configurations are analyzed: a ferromagnetic metal surrounded by nonmagnetic dielectrics and a nonmagnetic metal bounded by ferromagnetic dielectrics. Depending on the configuration and the thickness of the metallic layer, waveguides with very low attenuation losses and high MO effects can be obtained. These configurations could be used to design MO active devices in SPP-based optics.