Interaction between surface plasmon and magnetic material

The present paper concerns the interaction between a surface plasmon and a magnetic material with a transverse Kerr effect configuration type. The surface plasmon is optically generated at the surface of a gold layer. The associated evanescent wave interacts with a cobalt diffraction grating patterned on gold. The magneto-optical interaction is observed in reflection and transmission modes by measuring the intensity of diffraction orders and the enhancement of the magneto-optical effect due to the surface plasmon is discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.