Size And Interfacial Layer Dependence Of Optical Bistability In Cylindrical Metal-Dielectric Composition

Abstract

The optical bistability in a composite, composed of nonlinear cylindrical metallic particles with interfacial layers randomly embedded in a linear dielectric host, is reviewed. During the formation of composite, due to the diffusion and surface roughness, the interface between the nonlinear inclusions and the host matrix is not very sharp, leading to an interfacial layer, whose physical properties are different from those of either the inclusions or the host. It is shown that both interfacial property and the size of metallic particles can dramatically affect the optical bistable behavior of the metal-dielectric composite.