Oblique surface waves at an interface of metal-dielectric superlattice and isotropic dielectric

Abstract: We investigate the existence and the dispersion characteristics of surface waves that propagate at an interface between metal-dielectric superlattice and isotropic dielectric. Within the long wavelength limit, when the effective-medium approximation is valid, the superlattice behaves like a uniaxial plasmonic crystal with the main optical axes perpendicular to the metal-dielectric interfaces. We demonstrate that if such a semi-infinite plasmonic crystal is cut normally to the layer interfaces and brought into the contact with semi-infinite dielectric, a new type of surface modes can appear. The propagation of such modes obliquely to the optical axes occurs under favorable conditions that regard thicknesses of the layers, as well as the proper choice of dielectric permittivity of the constituent materials. We show that losses within the metallic layers can be substantially reduced by making the layers sufficiently thin. At the same time, a dramatic enlargement of the range of angles for oblique propagation of the new surface modes is observed. This can lead, however, to the field non-locality and consequently to the failure of the effective-medium approximation.