On surface plasmon polariton wavepacket dynamics in metal-dielectric heterostructures

The WKB equations for the dynamics of the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) wavepacket are studied. The dispersion law for the SPP in a metal-dielectric heterostructure with varying thickness of a dielectric grating is rigorously calculated and investigated using the scattering matrix method. Two channels of the SPP wavepacket optical losses related to the absorption in a metal and to the SPP leakage are analyzed. It is shown that change of the dielectric layer thickness acts on the SPP as an external force leading to evolution of its quasimomentum and to the wavepacket reversal or even to optical Bloch oscillations (BO). Properties of these phenomena are investigated and discussed. Typical values of the BO amplitude are about tens of microns and the period is around tens or hundreds of femtoseconds.