Abstract
Optical excitation of non-radiative surface plasma waves at the interface between a metal and another medium is used for determining certain parameters of the metal or the adjoining substance. Relative variations of observable parameters with variations of the refractive index of silver are compared with ellipsometric data from the literature. Cover layer thickness changes can be observed and variations in the refractive index of the adjacent medium can be discriminated against by recording the position together with the shape of the reflection curve. A measurement technique for the observation of rapid layer growth is reported.