Dynamics of switching total internal reflection to transmission in a dielectric-cladded nonlinear film

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Abstract
The time dependence of switching from total internal reflection to the transmission mode of a cw step turned-on laser is analyzed. The nonlinear thin film is bounded by linear dielectric media and possesses an intensitydependent refractive index. Our theory accounts for the intense reflection and feedback interferences from the two interfaces at the total-internal-reflection state and for the nonlinear medium's finite response time. We have explicitly evaluated the dependence of turn-on time on various optical and geometrical factors. The theory can be generalized to describe pulsed lasers and various forms of intensity-dependent refractive-index changes. Our theoretical results are important for constructing practical total-internal-reflection switching devices.