Abstract

It is hard to use bulk metals with high nonlinear susceptibilities since they are nearly opaque. Metal–dielectric photonic crystals can be transparent, but the electric field at each metal layer is still low. We theoretically studied the nonlinear response of heterostructures composed of truncated all-dielectric photonic crystals and thick metallic films. Because of the localized interface modes, both transmittance and the electric field in the metal are enhanced greatly. Compared to metal–dielectric photonic crystals, the critical intensity of threshold for bistability in the heterostructures with the same thickness of metal can be reduced by nearly 2 orders of magnitude.

© 2009 Optical Society of America

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