An approach to controlling surface plasmon polaritrons (SPPs) by means of diffraction on acoustic waves is presented. The Bragg diffraction of SPPs on an ultrasonic beam propagating along an interface of media, one of which is an isotropic dielectric, is considered. It is shown that, in addition to the formation of zeroth and first diffraction order SPP beams, SPPs will also be converted into bulk radiation. Some formulas for the intensities of zeroth and first diffraction order SPP beams are also derived for main diffraction modes. The proposed method can be used in the development of modern information processing devices along with devices for the nondestructive testing of homogeneity for dielectric coatings on metal surfaces.
P. A. Nikitin (Wed,) studied this question.