Infrared Response of Sub-Micron-Scale Structures of Polyoxymethylene: Surface Polaritons in Polymers

An investigation of the infrared (IR) spectra of polyoxymethylene (POM) mold plates was undertaken to determine the sub-micron-scale morphology and molecular orientation. The nest-structured cells concerned with the orientation were observed from scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements with the aid of Raman spectroscopy. The intensity of the anomalous IR reflectance peak of the C-O stretching A2 mode depends on the widths of the POM layers in the SEM image along the orientation direction. The results suggest that the spectral features originate from the Berreman effect of the bulk polaritons and the radiative surface polaritons. Moreover, the IR spectra of certain treated samples suggest that enhancement of the electromagnetic fields from the gap modes and transition dipole-dipole coupling influence the spectral shapes.