OPTICAL-RESPONSE OF A NONLINEAR COMPOSITE FILM

We study transmission through a composite thin film of coated spherica l particles with a metallic core and a nonlinear dielectric shell. Nea r the surface-plasmon resonance, the optical nonlinearity can be enorm ously enhanced. We demonstrate that a several order of magnitude reduc tion in the threshold intensity dan be achieved by tuning the microstr ucture parameters of the composite. (C) 1997 Optical Society of Americ a.