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arXiv:1009.0111 · Physical Review B

Optical bistability involving planar metamaterials with broken structural symmetry

Vladimir R. Tuz, S. L. Prosvirnin, Liudmyla A. Kochetova

Published Dec 10, 2010• 44 citations
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Abstract

We report on a bistable light transmission through a planar metamaterial composed of a metal pattern of weakly asymmetric elements placed on a nonlinear substrate. Such structure bears the Fano-type sharp resonance response of a trapped-mode excitation. The feedback required for bistability is provided by the coupling between the strong antiphased trapped-mode-resonance currents excited on the metal elements and the intensity of inner field in the nonlinear substrate.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.82.233402

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We report on a bistable light transmission through a planar metamaterial composed of a metal pattern of weakly asymmetric elements placed on a nonlinear substrate. Such structure bears the Fano-type sharp resonance response of a trapped-mode excitation. The feedback required for bistability is provided by the coupling between the strong antiphased trapped-mode-resonance currents excited on the metal elements and the intensity of inner field in the nonlinear substrate.
We numerically demonstrate optical bistability in a nonlinear multilayer structure by utilizing the unique dispersion of hyperbolic metamaterials. The linear transmission is varied sharply with topological transition of isofrequency contour of the multilayer structure, and this non-resonant scheme enables realization of optical bistability with a short response time and a relatively low switching intensity. We have investigated exhaustively all possible topological transitions in the dispersion characteristics of the multilayer structure for optical bistability, and shown that the hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) type transition from Type II to Type I, and the transition from Type II HMM to effective dielectric are suitable for realizing high-performances optical bistability. The proposed schemes can overcome the trade-off between a switching intensity and a response time in resonance based optical bistabilities.
We determine the transmission of light through a planar atomic array beyond the limit of low light intensity that displays optical bistability in the mean-field regime. We develop a theory describing the intrinsic optical bistability, which is supported purely by resonant dipole-dipole interactions in free space, showing how bistable light amplitudes exhibit both strong cooperative and weak single-atom responses and how they depend on the underlying low light intensity collective excitation eigenmodes. Similarities of the theory with optical bistability in cavities are highlighted, while recurrent light scattering between atoms takes on the role of cavity mirrors. Our numerics and analytic estimates show a sharp variation in the extinction, reflectivity, and group delays of the array, with the incident light completely extinguished up to a critical intensity well beyond the low light intensity limit. Our analysis paves a way for collective nonlinear optics with cooperatively responding dense atomic ensembles.
A comprehensive analysis of the interaction of pulsed light beams with nonlinear planar resonators is presented, covering both arbitrary types of nonlinearity and arbitrary states of polarization of the incident field. The characteristic of the optical response is discussed in its dependence on the crucial parameters of the resonator system as well as of the input pulse. Numerical results are given for the transmission response of a multiple-film configuration under oblique incidence, which is endowed with a dynamic, saturable nonlinearity. In particular, conditions for optical bistability to occur are derived.