Controlling the surface plasmon excitation efficiency using dielectric magneto-optical cavity

Abstract

The diffraction of a plane wave by a magneto-optical cavity located on a metal interface is investigated theoretically. We show that the excitation of localized eigenmodes of the cavity allows one to efficiently excite the surface plasmon polariton (SPP). We exploit the polarization and symmetry properties of the cavity modes to propose an efficient approach for controlling the SPP intensity through an external magnetic field. The presented theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the rigorous computations based on the generalized Lorentz reciprocity theorem and aperiodic Fourier modal method. The magnetization-induced relative intensity variation of the excited SPP demonstrated in numerical computations varies from a few percent to 100% depending on the polarization of the incident wave. Such large modulation opens new possibilities for efficient SPP modulation with considered magneto-optical intensity effect.