Positive and negative giant Goos–Hänchen shift in a near-symmetric layered medium for illumination from opposite ends

We study giant Goos–Hänchen (GH) shift in reflection from a near-symmetric coupled waveguide structure. We show that broken spatial symmetry can lead to GH shift with different signs for illumination from the opposite ends, a direct consequence of the nonreciprocity relations considered earlier (Opt. Lett. 27,1205 (2002)). We show that the asymmetry due to a tiny 5 nm displacement of the coupled guide to one side can result in giant differential shifts. Due attention is paid to possible beam splittings for tightly focused beams in resonant structures.