Dielectric multilayer coatings exhibiting steep reflectance in an extremely narrow transition zone, highly sensitive to any variations of layer refractive indices and therefore suitable for studying the nonlinear properties are produced and characterized. Increase of reflectance at growing intensity reveals the presence of the optical Kerr effect. A new method calculating intensity dependent sp...

Focusing and defocusing of laser light has been observed for many years. Optical Kerr type materials exhibit this effect only for high intensities. We show experimental evidence that photorefractive materials can also produce dramatic focusing and defocusing. Whereas Kerr materials produce this effect for high intensities, photorefractive materials produce these effects independent of intensity...

We show that employing localized surface plasmon resonators to probe environmental media will always lead to dissimilar optical sensitivities to permittivity and permeability. We find that while the permittivity sensitivities of diverse plasmonic structures display a geometry-independent universal scaling relation, the permeability sensitivities are highly dependent on the metals' geometries an...