All optical switching of reflectivity and transmissivity by a nonlinear sandwich

A simple model system comprised of a thin nonlinear layer sandwiched between two glass plates is demonstrated. This nonlinear sandwich allows the investigation of both the transmitted and reflected beams for all-optical switching. With a thermal (negative) nonlinearity high-contrast switching is obtained within several nanoseconds. The authors also show for the first time, the avoidance of multiple thresholds and associated beam breakup for a nonsaturating nonlinearity for both the transmitted and reflected beams. This promises cascadability of all optical devices based on the nonlinear interface