Resonance-enhanced evanescent optical lattices: comparison of guided-mode, surface-wave, and plasmonic platforms

Abstract Resonant diffraction by periodic photonic structures can generate strongly enhanced evanescent optical lattices near material interfaces. Here we compare this mechanism in three representative platforms: leaky guided modes, Bloch surface waves, and surface plasmon polaritons. Using Fourier modal method simulations and a semi-analytical nearest-neighbour model, we analyze linear, square, and hexagonal grating geometries under normally incident monochromatic illumination. The results show that the three platforms occupy distinct regimes of resonant near-field design. In the studied structures, leaky guided modes provide the largest resonant field enhancement and can yield very high absolute near-surface intensities, even when only a modest fraction of the stored intensity extends into the superstrate. Bloch-surface-wave and plasmonic lattices place their field maxima directly at the upper interface and can exhibit longer evanescent tails, but with platform-specific constraints such as multilayer coupling or metallic loss. We identify the trade-off between resonant enhancement, surface accessibility, penetration depth, visibility, and polarization response, providing design guidelines for structured near fields in nanophotonic sensing, microscopy, and surface-based light–matter interaction.