Composite structures for the enhancement of nonlinear optical materials

Calculations of the nonlinear optical behavior are developed for model composites consisting of nanospheres with a metallic core and a nonlinear shell suspended in a nonlinear medium. The concept for the enhancement of optical phase conjugation from all these nonlinear regions is that the optical field can be concentrated both inside and in the neighborhood of the metallic core, aided by surface-mediated plasmon resonance. Calculations for gold cores and aluminum cores indicate that phase-conjugate reflectivity enhancements of 10(8) may be possible.