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Technical Physics Letters

Phase optical bistability in structures with surface plasmons

V. F. Nazvanov, D. I. Kovalenko

Published Aug 1, 1998• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A theoretical analysis is made of the phenomenon of phase optical bistability in structures with surface plasmons. It is shown that in an optical waveguide with a nonlinear layer, not only amplitude but also phase bistability may occur when p -polarized radiation is reflected from the nonlinear waveguide.
DOI
10.1134/1.1262232

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Optical bistability based on surface plasmon polaritons in the Kretschmann configuration involving a Kerr nonlinear medium is described by analytical solutions. The conditions of forming the optical bistability with different parameters are explored. The resonant angle of surface plasmon polaritons varying with the incident light intensity also generates the phenomenon of bistability. The system could form optical bistability with the special thickness of the metal film and incident angle. This kind of system has potential application in all-optical networks.
We consider an attenuated total reflection prism-coupling geometry used to excite surface-plasmon waves along a metal film, bounded by a substrate with an intensity-dependent dielectric constant. Nonlinear wave theory is developed in the infinite incident plane-wave approximation, assuming a dielectric constant proportional to the square of the electric field normal to the film. We calculate the intensity required to observe bistability in the reflected intensity by excitation of the nonlinear, long-range surface plasmon and find it to be 2 orders of magnitude less than that required for the nonlinear, single-surface plasmon. We compare the nonlinear wave analysis with other approaches and illustrate the effects of the sign of the nonlinearity and of a nonlinear coupling layer.