Tamm polaritons and cavity modes in the FIR range

Abstract

Tamm polaritons (TPs) are formed at the interface between two semi-infinite periodic dielectric structures (Bragg mirrors) or other reflectors. Contrary to usual surface polaritons, TPs exist inside the "light cone", even though their amplitude also decreases exponentially with the distance from the interface as it is characteristic of evanescent waves. They couple to elementary excitations in the materials or structures that form the interface, such as metal plasmons or semiconductor excitons. Here we discuss the formation of TPs in the far-infrared (FIR) spectral range, in the optical-phonon reststrahlen band of a polar semiconductor such as GaAs, with a Bragg reflector (BR) as the second mirror. Their dispersion relation and the frequency window for the TP existence are discussed for a GaAs-BR interface and also structures containing a gap between the two reflectors.