Efficiency of light emission from surface plasmons

Abstract

The attentuated-total-reflection technique was used to excite surface plasmons in thin silver films on various substrates. The efficiency of conversion of the surface plasmons in the films into visible light at the silver-air interface was measured as a function of film thickness and roughness. Approximate efficiencies for 50-nm-thick films were 5% on glass substrates, 9% on Ca${\mathrm{F}}_{2}$-roughened glass substrates, and up to 80% on holographic gratings.