Electromagnetic surface waves guided by the interface of a metal and a tightly interlaced matched ambidextrous bilayer

The existence and characteristics of electromagnetic surface waves (ESWs) whose propagation is guided by the planar interface of metal and a tightly interlaced matched ambidextrous bilayer (TIMAB) were theoretically investigated, a TIMAB being a periodic unidirectionally nonhomogeneous material whose unit cell consists of one period each of two structurally chiral materials that are identical except in structural handedness. Thus, the structural handedness flips in the center of the unit cell. A canonical boundary-value problem was formulated and a dispersion equation was solved, the ESWs being classified as surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves. Flipping the structural handedness once in the unit cell can greatly enhance the number of possible SPP waves, one or more of which may be superluminal.