Long-range coupled surface exciton polaritons

An entirely new type of coupled surface electromagnetic mode has been observed, the existence of which depends upon a large imaginary component of the dielectric constant of a thin layer. It is a long-range mode, giving a very sharp reflectivity dip for transverse magnetic polarized radiation coupled to it using the attenuated-total-reflection technique. Because its existence relies on the presence of a highly absorbing layer it may open up new avenues for nonlinear optics experiments.