Nonlinear optical properties of anisotropic artificial Kerr media

It is shown that anisotropic artificial Kerr media are characterized by a high optical nonlinearity and by response times which are two orders of magnitude shorter than those observed for anisotropic materials. These results are in good agreement with a simple model and they demonstrate that an important role in nonlinear properties is played by the intrinsic birefringence of the particles in a material. This may be important in attempts to improve the properties of artificial nonlinear materials.