Prism-coupled excitation of multiple Tamm waves

A Tamm wave is guided by the interface of a homogeneous dielectric material and a periodically nonhomogeneous dielectric material, both isotropic. We found theoretically that multiple Tamm waves of different linear polarization states can be guided by such an interface incorporated in a prism-coupled configuration. The Tamm waves have different linear polarization states, phase speeds, and spatial profiles, but the same frequency. The narrow absorptance peaks associated with the excitation of Tamm waves in the prism-coupled configuration offer the application as chemical sensors with very high sensitivity.