Optical bistability on a silicon chip

We demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, optical bistability on a highly integrated silicon device, using a 5-microm-radius ring resonator. The strong light-confinement nature of the resonator induces nonlinear optical response with low pump power. We show that the optical bistability allows all-optical functionalities, such as switching and memory with microsecond time response and a modulation depth of 10 dB, driven by pump power as low as 45 microW. Silicon optical bistability relies on a fast thermal nonlinear optical effect presenting a 500-kHz modulation bandwidth.     

Coupler-loss and coupling-coefficient-dependent bistability and instability in a fiber ring resonator

In this paper, we demonstrate the dynamic simulation of light traveling in a fiber ring resonator with a single coupler. Optical nonlinear phenomena including bistability, the Ikeda instability, bifurcation and chaos are studied. The Ikeda instability in ring resonator arises from the ring-cavity lifetime being much longer than the Kerr-effect response time of the fiber. The transmission curves of the bistability and the instability as function of the insertion losses (γ) and the coupling coefficients (κ) of the coupler are derived.     

Optical bistability and modulation of light in a thin-film resonator based on total internal reflection

An approximate theoretical analysis is given of the bistable behavior of a simple resonator based on total internal reflection. It is assumed that the medium within the resonator is simultaneously absorbing and nonlinear. It is found that the amplitude bistability characteristics can be comparable to analogous characteristics for more complicated total-internal-reflection structures whose operation is based on tunnel excitation of waveguide modes. It is shown that strong phase bistability is possible in nonabsorbing total-internal-reflection resonators, and the possibility of using total-internal-reflection resonators as light modulators is discussed. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 38–42 (December 1997)     

Orientational transitions in ferromagnetic liquid crystals with bistable coupling between colloidal particles and the matrix

We study the orientational response of a ferromagnetic liquid crystal that is induced by magnetic and electric fields. A modified form of the energy of the orientational interaction between magnetic impurity particles and the liquid crystal matrix that leads to bistable coupling is considered. It is shown that apart from magnetic impurity segregation, first-order orientational transitions can be due to the bistability of the potential of the orientational coupling between the director and the magnetization. The ranges of material parameters that lead to optical bistability are determined. The possibility of first-order orientational transitions is analyzed for the optical phase difference between the ordinary and extraordinary light rays transmitted through a ferronematic cell. It is shown that an electric field applied in the given geometry considerably enhances the magneto-orientational response of the ferronematic.     

Enhanced terahertz bistability in a nonlinear Fabry-Perot resonator with n-type quantum wells

The intrinsic bistable terahertz response of intersubband plasmons in wide n-type delta-doped quantum wells is predicted to be enhanced by a resonant Fabry-Perot cavity. With a simple low-Q resonator, the threshold for bistability is decreased by a factor of 2-3 compared with that for bare multiple quantum wells.     

Analysis of Transient Optical Bistability and Stability in a Nonlinear Fiber Fabry-Perot Resonator Based on an Iterative Method

We perform a transient analysis, steady-state analysis, and linear stability analysis of a nonlinear Fabry-Perot resonator in order to examine the possibility of a fiber bistable device. We here develop two iterative methods for calculating the dynamics of the Fabry-Perot resonator containing a nonlinear medium with an instantaneous response time. The treatment of the counter-propagating field within the cavity is very important in estimating the nonlinear phase shift due to propagation. A trapezoid rule and midpoint rule are used here for the numerical integration. The iterative method using the trapezoid rule gives excellent agreement with the multiple-beam method developed by Bischofberger and Shen (Phys. Rev. A 19 (1979) 1169), which is more complicated than the proposed procedure. Unfortunately it is found that the midpoint approximation is numerically unstable. Assuming a conventional optical fiber, the switching power for optical bistability is less than 1 kW for a resonator length of 1-2 cm. On the basis of the iterative method, we perform a linear stability analysis to examine whether Ikeda instability affects bistable device application or not. The stability analysis shows that the instability threshold is two orders of magnitude larger than the switching power for optical bistability.     

Effect of the spectral half-width of the driving field on the bistability

The bistability behavior of a nonlinear absorbing medium inside a Fabry–Perot resonator driven by an external quasi-monochromatic field is studied. The driving field is considered to be of a Gaussian and Lorentzian spectral line profile. The effect of the spectral half-width on the bistability is discussed. The mathematical treatment is carried out through an interferometric point of view. The dependence of the driving intensity required to initiate bistability on the standing wave established inside the resonator is represented.     

Optical bistability in a single-bus InGaAs micro-ring resonator array

In this paper, we investigate the optical bistability induced by optical nonlinearity in a compact parallel array of micro-ring resonators with radius of 5 μm. Due to the nature of perfect light confinement in this structure, resonance and accumulation process in a ring resonator and optical nonlinear effects, are observable even at small optical power (a few milliwatts). Different optical applications such as all-optical switching, optical memory devices, logic gates and modulators are possible, due to optical bistability in a ring resonator. Using alternative semiconductor compounds, instead of silicon that have weak nonlinear optical properties, we improve the performance of ring-resonator based devices. Here we use a polymer cladding layer with negative thermo-optic coefficient. Using this structure we can eliminate the temperature created nonlinearity which is a very slow process. Therefore, the switching speed increases from a few MHz to several tens of GHz. By plotting the transfer function of the resonator, a hysteresis loop is observed in a few milliwatts. Although, using a ring resonator array the bandwidth reduces, however, the width of the hysteresis loop and resolution between both steady state increases.     

Influence of nonlinear absorption effects on optical bistability in semiconductor ring resonators

We present a theoretical investigation of optical bistability in a nonlinear semiconductor ring resonator, by taking into account the two-photon absorption and the free-carrier absorption. By solving the intensity equation within the ring resonator, a parametric formulation is obtained for describing the bistability relation between the input and the output intensities. Numerical results show that the nonlinear absorption effects can affect the critical points and domain of the optical bistability.     

Optical bistability in an all-optical fiber nonlinear fabry-perot resonator with linear absorption

An all-optical fiber nonlinear Fabry-Perot resonator is proposed. The steady-state model for describing this resonator is developed. The transmission and refection bistabilities are shown numerically. Our results show that the bistability in this system is similar to that in a normal nonlinear Fabry-Perot etalon, except that the characteristics of the bistability can be changed not only by the cavity length but also by the phase shifts of the fiber loop mirrors.     

Optical bistability in GaInAsP/InP coupled-circular resonator microlasers

Optical bistability is realized in GaInAsP/InP coupled-circular resonator microlasers, which are fabricated by planar technology. For a coupled-circular resonator microlaser with the radius of 20?μm and a 2?μm-wide bus waveguide, hysteresis loops are observed for the output power coupling into an optical fiber versus the cw injection current at room temperature. The laser output spectra of the upper and lower states of the hysteresis loop indicate that the bistability is related to mode competitions. The optical bistability can be explained as the mode competition between the symmetry and antisymmetry coupled modes relative to the bus waveguide.     

Transient response of an open resonator in the time domain

In the present paper a time response of a quasi-optical open resonator when exciting it by a pulse signal with a radiofrequency filling has been investigated using an inverse Fourier transformation. The radiofrequency filling corresponds to millimeter wavelengths region. Fourier image of the time response of the resonator is calculated from a product of two frequency’s functions. One of these functions is the Fourier image of a pulse signal at the resonator input, and the second is a calculated or measured amplitude — phase characteristic of the resonator. When calculating the amplitude- phase characteristic of the resonator (a complex transfer coefficient) a plane — layered model of the resonator was used. Experimental investigation has been conducted in millimeter wavelengths with Fabry-Perot type open resonator. Amplitude- phase characteristic of the resonator were measured in “on passage“ regime in wide frequency band. It was shown that presence of weakly absorbing layer in the resonator leads to changing of the time response of the resonator. The obtained results can be used in the dielectric measurements, defectoscopy of stratiform materials, relaxometry, non-destructive control of materials and structures, etc.     

Effect of the spectral profile of a deriving field on the bistability of a dissipative medium

 Through the differential equation describing the behavior of the nonlinear polarization of a medium with respect to an incident field, the Maxwell field equations and the boundary conditions of the field inside a resonator, the relationship between the output and the incident fields is obtained, describing a bistability phenomena. The effect of the spectral profile of the incident field and its spectral halfwidth on the bistability phenomena is studied.     

The irreversible magnetization switching and bistability effects in ferromagnetic junctions

It is shown that, in ferromagnetic nanojunctions, i.e., conducting layered structures containing no less than two ferromagnetic layers, a high level of spin injection by a perpendicular current can be achieved. In this case, the structures exhibit fundamentally new interesting properties, specifically, an irreversible magnetization switching and a bistability.     

On the finesse of a phase-conjugate Fabry-Perot resonator using nearly-degenerate four-wave mixing

We consider a Fabry-Perot cavity in which one of the mirrors is a phase-conjugate mirror (PCM) using near-degenerate four-wave mixing. We show that when taking pump depletion into account, the divergence in finesse of the resonator predicted by linear theories for a resonator round trip gain approaching unity is eliminated. The saturation of the finesse as a function of pump intensity leads to a new kind of bistability in the transmission characteristics of the system.     

The transmission and bistability of a nonlinear quasioptical resonator in ESR-conditions in ruby

Due to rapid progress of the nonlinear optics it has become real to observe and use the phenomenon of optics bistability in such passive structure as a Fabry-Perot resonator filled (completely or partially) with a substance having nonlinear adsorbtion and refraction. The problem of the optic bistability of such resonance structures were discussed in [1,2].     

Effect of Material Response Time on Optical Bistability in Nonlinear Distributed Feedback Gratings

The dynamic behaviors of nonlinear periodic waveguides with a finite material response time have been investigated by numerically solving both the coupled-mode equations and Debye relaxation equation. When the response time of the nonlinearity is more than the transit time through the grating, a modulational instability is sufficiently suppressed and one can obtain optical bistability. Unlike a nonlinear Fabry-Perot resonator or ring resonators, overshoot in the transmission never takes place in the case of zero detuning. However, a relaxation (or damped) oscillation always takes place in the presence of detuning. It is also found that the switch-on time depends on the material response time and the switch-off time is almost independent of it.     

Specific features in precession dynamics of magnetization of a uniaxial magnetic film

The precession dynamics of the magnetization of a film with in-plane uniaxial anisotropy in the case of its biasing along the hard magnetization axis has been analyzed by numerically solving the Landau-Lifshitz equations. It has been revealed that the ferromagnetic resonance spectrum near the magnetic anisotropy field exhibits an additional peak, which is associated with the angular bistability due to the presence of two symmetric angular equilibrium positions. The trajectories of precession motion during biasing along the hard magnetization axis differ substantially from the trajectories corresponding to the biasing along the easy axis.     

Diffusion-induced bistability of driven nanomechanical resonators

We study nanomechanical resonators with frequency fluctuations due to diffusion of absorbed particles. The diffusion depends on the vibration amplitude through inertial effect. We find that, if the diffusion coefficient D is sufficiently large, the resonator response to periodic driving displays bistability. The lifetime of the coexisting vibrational states exponentially increases with increasing D and displays a scaling dependence on the parameters close to bifurcation points.     

Bistable operation of a GaAs-AlGaAs diode laser coupled to an external resonator of narrow spectral bandwidth

The influence of an external dispersive resonator on the emission properties of a double heterostructure semiconductor laser operating at room temperature has been investigated. The proper design of the external resonator (frequency selectivity and efficient back-coupling of the radiation leaving the diode) demonstrates that a laser with optical feedback can show bistability and hysteresis phenomena. The dispersive bistability has its origin in the dependence of the refractive index on carrier density, temperature and optical power. Hysteresis curves have been measured by changing the injection current or by tuning the dispersive element. We have found a threshold in the injection current for the onset of the hysteretic behaviour. Moreover, a theoretical model has been established to explain the essential features of the experimental results. Hysteresis cycles for different experiments have been calculated.