Mrs
Nafiseh Sang-Nourpour
(1: Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, University of Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada, 2: Photonics Group, Research Institute for Applied Physics and Astronomy, University of Tabriz 51665-163, Iran 3 Photonics Group, Aras International Campus, University of Tabriz 51666-16471, Iran)
We characterize the propagation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at planar lossy interfaces by investigating the behavior of the energy flux and field intensity at the interface. For interfaces between dispersive and nondispersive linear, homogeneous and isotropic materials with positive, zero, and negative permittivity and permeability, a narrow transition frequency window separates propagating SPPs from leaky SPPs. We derive conditions on the permittivity and permeability corresponding to whether the SPPs are propagating or leaky. Ascertaining propagation characteristics of surface plasmon polaritons is important to check the viability of a given study or application. As an application we show that in frequency regions where one material has a double-negative refractive index, the SPPs are leaky, rather than propagating.
We acknowledge financial support from NSERC, Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, China's 1000 Talent Plan and the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, an NSF Physics Frontiers Center (NSF Grant PHY-1125565) with support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF-2644).
Mrs
Nafiseh Sang-Nourpour
(1: Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, University of Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada, 2: Photonics Group, Research Institute for Applied Physics and Astronomy, University of Tabriz 51665-163, Iran 3 Photonics Group, Aras International Campus, University of Tabriz 51666-16471, Iran)
Dr
Benjamin R Lavoie
(1: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada, 2: Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, University of Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada)
Prof.
Barry Sanders
(1: Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, University of Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada 2: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China, 3: Shanghai Branch, CAS Center for Excellence and Synergetic Innovation Center in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Shanghai 201315, China, 4: Program in Quantum Information Science, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8, Canada, 5: Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA)
Dr
Reza Kheradmand
(Photonics Group, Research Institute for Applied Physics and Astronomy, University of Tabriz 51665-163, Iran)
