Surface plasmon polaritons in concentric cylindrical structures

Theoretical studies of surface plasmon polaritons in cylindrical structures consistent of concentric layers are presented. The complete set of Maxwell’s equations with appropriate boundary conditions are solved and expressed in a matrix form for a system with a finite number of shells imbedded in an environment. Numerical evaluations of the transcendental equation for the dispersion relation are given to analyze the role of factors such as number of shells, dielectric properties of the materials and the environment, curvature and size of the system.