Surface optical waves at the boundary with a nonlinear Kerr medium

A rigorous solution consistent with a plane wave approximation is given to the boundary problem for Maxwell’s equations for surface optical waves at the boundary with a nonlinear Kerr medium. Exact formulas for the flux intensity (J ₀) and energy density (W ₀) of these waves are derived depending on the parameters of the adjacent media and the propagation constant (ξ). It is shown that these variables as functions of ξ have minima. Thus, J ₀ and W ₀ increase sharply as the propagation constant deviates from the minimum value ξ_min. Their values are greater, the larger the difference between the dielectric constants of the linear and nonlinear media is. An expression for the propagation velocity of a nonlinear surface wave is also obtained.