Peculiar properties of surface plasmon-polaritons excitation in metal-dielectric structures based on opals

The paper reports on the study of optical phenomena peculiarities in metal-dielectric nanocomposite materials based on opal matrices caused by the excitation and propagation of surface plasmon-polaritons along the metal-dielectric interface. It is shown that two types of surface plasmon polaritons (‘bright’ and ‘dark’) can occur in the studied structures, which manifests itself in the established anomalies of light transmission and absorption.