Surface plasmons were discovered in 1957 and since then there has been a considerable amount of study of the fundamental properties of plasmons and their applications. Surface plasmon resonance has been used to produce a wide variety of optical and chemical sensors.
Surface plasmons are transverse magnetic (TM) electromagnetic waves that travel along the interface between a dielectric and a metal. These waves are exponentially attenuated in the normal direction and propagate parallel to the interface. A surface plasmon can be generated by the interaction of an electron rich surface, such as that of a metal, with a charged particle or with a photon. A common configuration used to create surface plasmons is the Kretschmann configuration. In this configuration, the light is incident on the film through the prism and at an angle greater than the critical angle. The surface plasmon is detected by carefully adjusting the angle of incidence until the reflected intensity is dramatically quenched. This angle is called the plasmon angle qp.
Some links on Surface Plasmons:
http://www4.gvsu.edu/perozzop/surface.htm - An Undergraduate experiment concerning surface plasmon wave phenomenon for the interface between glass and copper, chromium and silver metal films.
http://www.qub.ac.uk/mp/con/plasmon/sp1.html - Some basic information concerning Surface Plasmons, Attenuated total reflection and grating couplings
http://www.phy-astr.gsu.edu/stockman/data/locdeloc.pdf - Localization versus Delocalization of Surface Plasmons in Nanosystems: Can One State Have Both Characteristics? A paper by Stockman, Faleev, and Bergman
http://molphys.leidenuniv.nl/qo/research/plasmons.htm - Quantum entanglement of surface plasmons
http://hp720.ceg.uiuc.edu/~rotkin/newdata/conf/3.pdf - Surface plasmons as origin of depolarization in spherical QDs a paper by Slava Rotkin
http://www.aip.org/mgr/png/2001/113.htm - Surface Plasmon Molecules
http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/products/msp/control/spreeta/refract.htm - Refractive Index Sensing With Surface Plasmon Resonance
http://www.neci.nec.com/homepages/thio/arrays.html - Surface plasmon enhanced optics. Giant Optical Transmission through Nano-Apertures
http://www.isan.troitsk.ru/DSSS/LSSS/KVN/paper/mod_opt/mod_opt.htm
- Dispersion relation of surface plasmons near photonic band gaps: influence
of the interaction with light.
http://focus.aps.org/v1/st15.html - An application of Surface Plasmons in Biophysics, motor proteins moving on a metal.
http://www.riken.go.jp/lab-www/library/publication/review/html/No01/01-24/01-24.html - Observing ultrathin organic coatings by surface light.
http://www.cstl.nist.gov/biotech/biomat/Techniques/plasmon_more.html - Plasmon resonance techniques for probing biomolecular surfaces.
http://www.king.edu/Academics/Departments/Physics/StudentResearch/fitzgerald.pdf
Sensor Development Utilizing the Excitation of Surface Plasmons in Gold Islands. An undergraduate research paper.
http://www.riken.go.jp/lab-www/library/publication/review/html/No01/01-08/01-08.html - Surface plasmon microscope with electronic angular scanning.