Surface Plasmon Polariton Excitation Based on Refractive Index Tunable Technique

A novel phase matching idea of surface plasmon polariton (SPP) design is presented based on changing of the prism refractive index in Kretschmann configuration. The selected prism material is a thermotropic liquid crystalline material (TLC) which has been chemically prepared in vitro and was thermally and optically characterized. The experimentally measured refractive indices of the LC material possess a linear change with the temperature at several selected wavelengths in the visible region. The resonant excitation of the SPP was theoretically confirmed by the thermal control of the prism refractive index and can be utilized in analyte refractive index sensing.