Critical coupling layer thickness for positive or negative Goos–Hänchen shifts near the excitation of backward surface polaritons in Otto-ATR systems

We present a theoretical analysis of the lateral displacement (Goos–Hänchen shift) of spatially limited beams reflected from attenuated total reflection (ATR) devices in the Otto configuration when backward surface plasmon polaritons are excited at the interface between a positive refractive index slab and a semi–infinite metamaterial with a negative refractive index. First, the stationary phase approximation and a phenomenological model based on the properties of the complex poles and zeroes of the reflection coefficient are used to demonstrate that: (i) the excitation of backward surface waves can lead to both negative and positive (and not exclusively negative) Goos–Hänchen shifts, and (ii) the sign of the shift depends on whether the value of the coupling layer thickness is higher or lower than a critical value characteristic of the ATR structure. Then, these findings are verified through rigorous calculations of the spatial structure of the reflected beam. For incident beams with a Gaussian profile, the lateral shift calculated as the first moment of the field distribution of the reflected beam agrees quite well with the predictions of approximate analysis. Near the resonant excitation of the backward surface plasmon polariton, large (negative or positive) Goos–Hänchen shifts are obtained, along with a splitting of the reflected beam. (paper)