Purely organic materials with negative and near-zero dielectric permittivity can be easily fabricated, and the propagation of surface polaritons at the material/air interface was demonstrated. Here, we develop a theory of nonlinear light-induced “plasmonic” properties of organic materials. We predict the generation of switching waves or kinks in the bistable organic thin films that enable us to observe a bistable behaviour of the surface polaritons at the organic thin film/dielectric interface under laser irradiation. We present the alternating-sign dependence of the switching wave velocity on pump intensity and discuss a possibility of controlling the polariton propagation by switching waves.

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