Novel properties of light transmission in multilayer stacks of air/silver thin films

The transfer matrix method was used to calculate the transmission of electromagnetic waves through alternate layers of thin silver films separated by air. It was found that the plasma frequency is a clear divide between good and poor transmission. Equally the calculations show that for frequencies above the plasma frequency the transmission coefficient shows a Bragg-like behavior with oscillations that manifest coherent reflections on the entrance side of the layer at favored wavelengths.