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 (J0) and energy density (W0) 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, J0 and W0 increase sharply as the propagation constant deviates from the minimum value ξmin. 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.