Abstract. Prism coupling in the Otto configuration is a well-known method for excitation of surface plasmon polaritons in a metal film in the classical planar three-layered geometry consisting of optical prism, intermediate medium (air) and metal surface (thick film). The analysis of the reflectance in the upper half-space (prism) is based on the well-known Fresnel's formula. The prism-metal separation variation causes specific distribution of the amplitude and the phase of the p- and s-components of the reflected field [1]. The Fresnel complex coefficients are no longer constant across the aperture of the beam so further analysis is needed to be done. This phenomenon can be studied by a polarization interferometric approach [2], which allows us to separate these two components and to let them interfere. Nevertheless the nonplanar geometry of the metal attenuator additionally complicates the problem. The paper represents an analytical approach to the reflection from a three-layer system with parabolic one-dimensional metal surface.

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