title: Optical bistability in nonlinear surface-plasmon polaritonic crystals.
abstract: Nonlinear optical transmission through periodically nanostructured metal films (surface-plasmon polaritonic crystals) has been studied. The surface polaritonic crystals have been coated with a nonlinear polymer. The optical transmission of such nanostructures has been shown to depend on the control-light illumination conditions. The resonant transmission exhibits bistable behavior with the control-light intensity. The bistability is different at different resonant signal wavelengths and for different wavelengths of the control light. The effect is explained by the strong sensitivity of the surface-plasmon mode resonances at the signal wavelength to the surrounding dielectric environment and the electromagnetic field enhancement due to plasmonic excitations at the controlled light wavelengths.
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Wurtz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pollard
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Zayats