TE-POLARIZED WAVES GUIDED BY A LOSSLESS NONLINEAR 3-LAYER STRUCTURE

We study TE-polarized electromagnetic waves guided by a three-layer st ructure consisting of a film surrounded by semi-infinite media. All th ree media are assumed to be lossless: nonmagnetic, isotropic, and exhi biting a local Kerr-like dielectric nonlinearity. We present general n ecessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of ''physical'' ( real, nonnegative, bounded, and consistent with the dispersion relatio n) field intensities. As a physical consequence, the parameters a(v),< (epsilon)over bar>(v),n,E-0(2),k(0)d associated with realizable waves can be specified. To illustrate the procedure, analytical and numerica l results for the allowed normalized thickness of the film and pattern s of the field intensities as functions of the effective wave number a nd the intensity of the electric field at the lower surface of the non linear dielectric film are presented and the occurrence of singular fi eld intensities is investigated. Finally, the particularization of the results to the three-layer structure containing a linear substrate an d film and a nonlinear cladding is briefly discussed.