Excitation of surface plasma wave at TiN/air interface in the Kretschmann geometry

Since titanium nitride appears golden and has a high conductivity, the possibility that it can be used in surface plasma wave applications in a manner similar to gold but with very strong scratch-resistance, is of interest. This work considers this possibility using the Kretschmann configuration, measuring the angle-dependent reflectivity as well as the wavelength-dependent reflectivity. Both sets of results demonstrate the excitation of a surface plasma wave at the TiN/air interface by an incident p-wave. The thickness of TiN that most efficiently couples the incident p-wave to the surface plasma wave is around 35 nm. All of the experiments are accompanied by corresponding numerical simulations.