Optical bistability in nonlinear mixtures of coated inclusions with radial dielectric anisotropy

The intrinsic optical bistability (OB) in nonlinear composites of coated spherical particles with a nonlinear metallic core and an anisotropic shell is investigated. By taking into account the radial dielectric anisotropy in the linear shell, we first resort to the Laplace equation to solve the potential function, and thus establish the relation between the local field in the nonlinear core and the external applied field. We find that the radial anisotropy can optimize the threshold intensity and enhance the bistable response. Moreover, there exists an anisotropy-dependent critical interfacial parameter λc, above which the bistable response vanishes. Furthermore, the reflectance at normal incidence is also investigated.