Grating-assisted Raman scattering of plasmons in layered two-dimensional electron systems

Grating-assisted Raman scattering is introduced as a new mechanism to study the dispersion of near surface modes in dependence of wave vector $K_{?}$ parallel to the surface of a solid. It is shown that a surface grating of a submicrometer period a provides additional transfer of wave vector $K_{?}$ in resonant Raman scattering of plasmons in layered two-dimensional electron systems. Grating-assisted Raman scattering thus allows to extend studies of the two-dimensional plasmon dispersion to a significantly larger range of wave vectors $K_{?}$ than possible by conventional Raman scattering.