Surface electromagnetic waves with damping I. Isotropic Media II. Anisotropic Media

Paper 1: “Surface electromagnetic wave (SEW) dispersion curves are usually calculated using a simple equation derived from Maxwell’s equations and boundary conditions. When complex dielectric functions are used for the two media, the component of the propagation vector along the surface kx becomes infinite as the frequency ω approaches the surface polariton frequency ωs if ω is considered complex and kx real. On the other hand, if kx is considered complex and ω real, the dispersion curves bend back toward smaller kx as ω approaches ωs. We have previously demonstrated that both types of dispersion curves can be obtained from attenuated total reflection measurements of silver. We now extend this result to other materials and show that dispersion curves alone present an inadequate summary of the data --Abstract, page 1. Paper 2: “The technique of plotting the ATR reflectance as a function of both frequency and incident angle using a three dimensional plot is applied to surface electromagnetic waves (SEW) in a uniaxial material, MnF2. It is shown that dispersion curves calculated without absorption do not completely describe the ATR reflectivity. Experimental data confirming the reflectance surface features are presented. The termination of an extraordinary SEW dispersion branch is observed experimentally, and the experimental conditions for this observation are discussed. Also, additional minima in the reflectance surface not associated with SEW are found --Abstract, page 1