Transients in optical bistability

In this paper we report on both a theoretical model for the transients in optical bistability in a Fabry-Perot cavity and the corresponding experimental results. An analytical calculation permits to predict the shape of the transient curves and the order of magnitude of their time duration in the case of a slow sweep of the length of the cavity. The experiment, which uses the nonlinearity arising from a two-photon transition in rubidium, yields results in good agreement with the theoretical calculation.Work supported by the D.R.E.T.     

Piezooptical optical bistability

A glass fiber piezooptical optical bistability device is reported.Basing on pho-toelastic and strain effects of single-mode fiber,we have realized piezooptical modulation andperformed experiments of optical bistability.     

光栅光学双稳态

本文报道了一种光栅光学双稳态装置.利用改变一对对称光栅间相对位移,实现了对透过光强的周期性调制.将这样的系统作为传输部分,分别用He-Ne激光和普通白光完成了光学双稳实验.实验结果与理论分析相符.     

Dynamic fluctuations in optical bistability

We present results on the time correlation function of a system undergoing absorptive optical bistability. We first use the Zwanzig-Mori formalism to calculate time correlation functions both near marginal stability points and in the coexistence region. Near marginal stability the theory predicts large deviations from a single exponential form of the correlation function. The truncated continued fraction expansion is shown to become inapplicable close to the coexistence point. The difficulties are due to the presence of long time scales, viz. the very large mean first passage times between the two metastable steady states. When these scales are important we show that the memory kernel relaxation is no longer faster than that of a field fluctuation. An increase in the size of the system increases the disparity of the time scales and thus exacerbates the problems of the projection operator formalism as used here following reference [14].We next present an ansatz for the correlation function incorporating the four major time scales important near coexistence, the two single branch relaxation times and the two mean first passage times for transitions between the stable states. This form of the correlation function avoids the difficulties cited in connection with the use of the projection operator method.     

富勒烯分子的光学双稳性

本文采用非线性法布里-珀罗腔的全光光学方法,在C_(60)/C_(70)薄膜中首次观测到双稳开关现象,其开关时间为10ns.     

Fluctuations in multiphoton optical bistability

We show that in multiphoton lasers nonclassical effects are absent, whereas in multiphoton optical bistability the maximum reduction of fluctuations is by a factor of four.     

Nonsecular terms in optical bistability

We investigate the influence of the nonsecular terms on the optical bistability in a photonic-crystal single-atom laser. The nonsecular terms result in a significant reduction of the bistability threshold. The optical bistability can be controlled by adjusting the parameters of the discontinuity in the photon density of states.     

Recent advances in optical bistability

In this paper, recent advances in optical bistability and gating of semiconductors will be reviewed. Nonlinear mechanisms responsible for switching will be described. The advantages of nonlinear etalons for massive parallelism and current problems in performing such operations will be mentioned.     

Switching times in absorptive optical bistability

We give analytic expressions for the up-switching and the down-switching times of an optical bistable device in the limit of large C. In the case of up-switching the jump time is proportional to the atomic relaxation time. In the case of down-switching, the jump time is proportional to the cavity relaxation time. No assumption on the relative magnitude of the cavity and the atomic relaxation times is introduced.     

Modified optical bistability in two-photon absorption

The effect of level degeneracy of the absorbing atoms on the transmission characteristic of a ring cavity is examined within the mean field approximation. Using a single-mode input field, the possibility of realising a form of tristable behaviour is discussed.     

Thermally induced optical bistability in CdHgTe

We report optical bistability in a room temperature, uncoated Cd_0.185Hg_0.815Te etalon using a cw CO₂ laser at 10.6 μm. The results are consistent with a band gap resonant, dispersive nonlinearity induced by a thermal shift of the band gap energy through interband and free carrier absorption. A refractive index temperature coefficient, dn/dT ～ ? 1 × 10^-3K^-1 was measured, and bistability was observed at incident powers of 20 mW.     

Transverse effects in absorptive optical bistability

Absorptive bistability loops are computed for a laser beam with a gaussian input spatial profile incident on a unidirectional ring cavity containing a saturable nonlinear medium. Sharp radially dependent switching with wide bistable loops is predicted for large Fresnel numbers. Intermediate Fresnel numbers result in whole beam switching with significant narrowing of the associated bistable loops. At low Fresnel numbers, bistability can disappear. Radially integrated hysteresis loops differ quantitatively from plane-wave predictions.     

Nonlinear polarization bistability in optical nanowires

Using the full vectorial nonlinear Schr?dinger equations that describe nonlinear processes in isotropic optical nanowires, we show that there exist structural anisotropic nonlinearities that lead to unstable polarization states that exhibit periodic bistable behavior. We analyze and solve the nonlinear equations for continuous waves by means of a Lagrangian formulation and show that the system has bistable states and also kink solitons that are limiting forms of the bistable states.     

Critical slowing down in optical bistability

The role of critical slowing down in optical bistability is discussed, taking fully into account the non-linear effects. In particular, we show that the critical slowing down may lead to interesting novel applications, such as compact optical delay lines and electric field to time converters.     

Second-order time fluctuations in optical bistability

The master equation for a hybrid optical bistability is numerically solved and the results obtained for the second order time fluctuations are compared with the results derived from the theory.     

Mechanical bistability in an optical lattice

A probed optical lattice is modelled as a driven anharmonic oscillator with noise. For specific values of the probe intensity and detuning, atoms are forced in bistable solutions. The friction and fluctuations that arise from laser cooling, determine the equilibrium between these two modes of vibration. The distribution determines the absorption spectrum and the transient emission spectrum that is emitted by the optical lattice after the probe has been switched off. Received 23 May 2000 and Received in final form 17 August 2000     

Low threshold optical bistability with optical pumping

By use of circularly polarized light we have exploited optical pumping within the Zeeman sublevels of the ground state to obtain optical bistability in sodium vapours with low threshold power (around 1 mW) and a wide tuning range (>12 GHz). Experimental results are presented for different conditions of operation and compared to computer calculations, that include propagation effects and inhomogeneous broadening, based on a three-level atomic model that accounts for optical pumping.CEILAP, Buenos Aires, Argentina