Temporal pulse reshaping with surface waves

The temporal reshaping of short optical pulses reflected from a metal film under the condition of surface-wave excitation of single- and multiple-boundary surface-plasmon modes is theoretically investigated. Reflected pulse shapes are calculated through evaluation of Fourier transform integrals both by direct numerical integration and by approximate pole expansion. The latter is particularly useful for the interpretation of the simple exponential time decay of the trailing edge of the pulse. Emphasis is placed on determination of the range of parameters for which pulse reshaping may be experimentally observed. Diffraction of the incident beam is a limiting factor.