Surface plasmon polaritons are coherent electron oscillations that propagate along an interface between a Drude metal and a dielectric medium. The excitation of polaritons is highly dependent on the dielectric properties of the metal, the thickness of the metal, and the optical properties of the dielectric material. First, plasmonic activity is assessed for several thicknesses of silver and nickel chromium under He-Ne incidence. Relationships between film thickness and metal dielectric function are explored in both cases. To manipulate the plasmonic activity at the silver surfaces, two methods are explored. Silver oxide was grown on the surface of the silver films, and the resulting reflection curves are compared to the curves of the metal silver film alone. Next, a polymer was added to the top of the silver films, and the reflection curves were compared. Poling of the polymer is also discussed and attempted as a means of dynamically modulating the reflection curves. A weak relationship between the dielectric function of silver and the plasmonic activity was found. No definite relationship between the dielectric function of nickel chromium and plasmonic activity was found. Both dielectric media studied were found to alter the plasmonic activity at the metal-dielectric interface
