Optical bistability in low-dimensional semiconductor heterostructures under cw pump laser and infrared pulse signals

We have investigated theoretically the optical bistability (OB) and optical multistability in quantum-well (QW) semiconductor heterostructures. The effect of a cw pump laser field and a control infrared pulse signal on OB is discussed. It is found that the OB threshold can be controlled by varying the strength of applied fields. It is also shown that OB can be switched to optical multistability or vice versa just using an appropriate relative phase of applied fields. This investigation may open up some new possibilities for applications in all-optical switching in quantum-well structures.