Coupled surface polariton with guided wave polariton modes in asymmetric metal clad dielectric waveguides

It is emphasized that in metal-dielectric layered systems with a thin metallic layer, surface plasmon-polaritons (SP) can couple with guided wave polaritons (GWP) and form new hybrid modes with properties of both SP and GWP. This is illustrated by analyzing the properties of electromagnetic modes in an asymmetric metal-clad-dielectric-slab waveguide and their dependence on the thickness of metal cladding.