Goos–Hänchen shift of the reflection from nonlinear nanocomposites with electric field tunability

A structure of nonlinear metal-dielectric nanocomposites is proposed to control the lateral shift of the reflected beam by tuning an applied electric field. Based on spectral representation theory and stationary phase method, the lateral shift is found to exhibit hysteretic effects including single optical bistability, double optical bistability, and optical tristability. As a consequence, it can be manipulated via the applied field. Moreover, the shift is strongly dependent on the volume fraction, the shape of the metallic particles, and the incident angle. Numerical simulations based on Gaussian waves are in good agreement with our theoretical calculations.