Excitation of Surface Plasmon Polaritons on sinusoidally corrugated metal-dielectric interface fabricated using interference lithography

Using Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) at the sinusoidally corrugated metal-dielectric interface was simulated. The sample structure was made by creating one-dimension sinusoidally corrugated dielectric layer on top of metal thin film deposited on dielectric substrate. The thickness of metal film was simulated in range from 10 to 200 nm. Sinusoidally corrugated grating was modelled with different pitch and height. Additionally influence of a dielectric layer between grating and metal layer was simulated. The optical response of the structure was obtained in the regime of wavelength and angle. All simulations were performed for gold (Au) thin films deposited on glass substrate. Then selected structures were fabricated and measured. The gold film was thermally evaporated on glass substrate then the one-dimension sinusoidally corrugated dielectric layer was made in a photoresist using interference lithography.