Dyakonov-Tamm wave at the planar interface of a chiral sculptured thin film and an isotropic dielectric material

Surface waves, named here as Dyakonov-Tamm waves, can exist at the planar interface of an isotropic dielectric material and a chiral sculptured thin film (STF). Due to the periodic nonhomogeneity of a chiral STF, the range of the refractive index of the isotropic material is smaller but the range of the propagation direction in the interface plane is much larger, in comparison to those for the existence of Dyakonov waves at the planar interface of an isotropic dielectric material and a columnar thin film. Dyakonov-Tamm waves could therefore be detected more easily than Dyakonov waves.