Observation of surface plasmon splitting on Ag(111) by electroreflectance spectroscopy

The spectral dependence of electroreflectance near the surface plasma frequency of Ag(111) has been measured for various degrees of surface roughness. The experiments clearly show a splitting of the surface plasma resonance on increasing the roughness of the sample. The results agree well with a recent theory which predicts a splitting of the surface plasmon dispersion relation on a statistically rough surface.