Outcoupling surface plasmons into propagation modes using a subwavelength dielectric grating for device applications

Coupling of surface plasmon polaritons to radiation modes by use of a one-dimensional subwavelength dielectric grating on a thin metal slab is discussed. The surface plasmon waves obtained in Kretschmann configuration are resonant outcoupled to radiation modes by using a subwavelength dielectric grating. A peak outcoupling efficiency is predicted to be 74.57% with rigorous coupled-wave analysis. In addition, potential applications of these results in the design and improvement of various optoelectronic devices, such as polarizers, wavelength filters and biochemical sensors are discussed.