[1] If the large, high-albedo surface feature on Titan’s leading hemisphere is an elevated ‘‘continent’’ composed mainly of water ice, it will deform under its own weight. We present a model for the axisymmetric spreading of this hypothesized continent based on the similarity solution of Halfar [1983] and the approach of Nye [2000]. We find that the thickness of the model continent is dictated ...

We performed numerical investigations of surface plasmon excitation and propagation in structures made of a photochromic polymer layer deposited over a metal surface using the finite-difference time-domain method. We investigated the process of light coupling into surface plasmon polariton excitation using surface relief gratings formed on the top of a polymer layer and compared it with the cou...