Second-Harmonic Generation from Thin-Film Silver Electrodes via Surface Plasmons

Abstract

By using plasmon surface polaritons (PSP’s) at optically flat surfaces we can obtain controlled field enhancements over the entire surface without the complications of surface roughness. The PSP’s are the localized electromagnetic waves propagating along the surface that can be created on a thin metallic film by the technique of attenuated total reflection (ATR).1 Since the PSP is localized at the metal-solution interface, we are assured that we are only measuring surface effects. The PSP’s on a silver surface increase the field intensity roughly by a factor of 100, greatly enhancing the signal from nonlinear processes such as second-harmonic generation (SHG).2 © 1984 Optical Society of America