Long-range surface-plasmon-enhanced all-optical switching and beam steering through nonlinear Kerr effect

Abstract

A proposition toward all-optical tuning of long-range surface-plasmon-enhanced beam shifts and all-optical switching is implemented analytically by exploitation of Kerr effect induced refractive index change through varying pump light intensity in a multilayer long-range surface-plasmon configuration at 1550 nm. Through the optimized design comprising polydiacetylene para-toulene sulfonate as a Kerr polymer, a high-contrast all-optical switch with a pump intensity threshold of 0.15 GW/cm2 is proposed. The design also provides giant spatial and angular Goos–Hanchen and Imbert–Fedorov shifts at mm and µrad ranges along with wide range of tunability of beam shifts with the varying pump light intensity and the varying incident angle. Moreover, exact beam position and beam steering considering the conjoint effect of spatial and angular Goos–Hanchen and Imbert–Fedorov shifts for different incident polarizations are also obtained. This idea proffers a new possibility for pulse generation, optical sensors applications, optical modulation, geodetic surveying, etc.