title: Surface plasmons on zig-zag gratings.
abstract: Optical excitation of surface plasmons polaritons (SPPs) on a 'zig-zag diffraction grating' is explored. The fabricated silver grating consists of sub-wavelength grooves 'zig-zagged' along their length, providing a diffractive periodicity to visible radiation. SPPs propagating in the diffraction plane and scattered by an odd number of grating vectors are only excited by TE polarized radiation, whereas for TM polarized light, which also induces surface charge, SPP excitation is forbidden by the grating's broken-mirror symmetry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QL, UK. t.j.constant@ex.ac.uk
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Constant
authors.forename: Tim S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Taphouse
authors.forename: Helen J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Rance
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Kitson
authors.forename: Alastair P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Hibbins
authors.forename: J Roy
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Sambles
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008027:Light; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D012834:Silver