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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Scattering of transverse-electric electromagnetic waves with a finite nonlinear film

K. M. Leung

Published Feb 1, 1988• 43 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Exact analytical results for the scattering of a plane transverse-electric electromagnetic wave with a nonlinear thin film is derived. Optical bistable and multistable behaviors in the reflectivity as a function of the input intensity are found.
DOI
10.1364/josab.5.000571

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We show that the optical response of a nonlinear dielectric film may exhibit optical bistability even in the thin-film limit. Using a rigorous numerical treatment, we also show that the resonant excitation of nonlinear guided modes propagating along the film leads to switching intensities 104{10}^{4}104 times lower than those obtained with use of the resonances associated with the Airy function.
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