A complete description of the dispersion relation for thin metal film plasmon-polaritons

A versatile numerical method is used to solve the plasmon-polariton dispersion relation for a planar thin-metal-film geometry. A complete description of the variation of effective-mode index and propagation length with metal thickness and cover index is presented for all four modes. The spatial distribution of these modes is calculated explicitly. The effects of a nonideal metal film and of dielectric loss in the cover material is considered.<
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