Surface plasmon resonance radiation from germanium

• Published in: Thin solid films Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 125 - 130
• Main Author: Cowan, J.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.01.1975
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/0040-6090(75)90281-3

It is well known that when certain reflection gratings which are coated with different metal or dielectric-metal layers are illuminated by p-polarized light surface plasmon resonance radiation appears in the diffraction spectra in the form of polarization anomalies (Wood's anomalies). Surface plasmons can be excited in this way if the real part ε 1 of the dielectric constant of the metal layer has a value less than -1. This technique has been extended to semiconductors in the present work by coating a grating with Ge and investigating the diffracted light in the 4–6 eV region, where ε 1 for Ge is less than -1. Experimental results are presented which show that certain peaks in the observed spectra may be due to the expected resonance radiation.