Discontinuity induced angular distribution of photon plasmon coupling

Metal-dielectric transitions are important structures that can display a host of optical characteristics including excitation of plasmons. Metal-dielectric discontinuities can furthermore support plasmon excitation without a severe condition on the incident angle of the exciting photons. Using a semi-infinite thin gold film, we study surface plasmon (SP) excitation and the associated electromagnetic near-field distribution by recording the resulting plasmon interference patterns. In particular, we measure interference periods involving SPs at the scanable metal/air interface and the buried metal/glass one. Supported by optical near-field simulations and experiments, we demonstrate that the metal/glass surface plasmon is observable over a wide range of incident angles encompassing values above and below the critical incident angle. As a result, it is shown that scanning near-field microscopy can provide quantitative evaluation of the real part of the buried surface plasmon wavevector.