Abstract
We apply effective-medium theory, generalized for nonlinear media, to the problem of four-wave mixing in composites consisting of conducting particles embedded in a linear dielectric medium. For spheroidal conducting particles two cases are considered: (i) the particles are oriented and (ii) the particles have a random orientation. An experiment on gold particle suspensions in glass (Schott RG6) examines the frequency dependence of the conjugate signal intensity in a four-wave mixing geometry. Analysis of these results indicates that the particles with spheroidal shapes are mixed in the glass. We find that frequency and optical depth dependence of the conjugate intensity can be used to gain insight into the shape of the particles, since a large enhancement of the conjugate reflectivity is expected at the surface plasmon resonances, which are highly sensitive to small shape distortions.
© 1989 Optical Society of America
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