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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Optical bistability scheme based on violation of Snell's law of light reflection

Konstantin Y. Nikitenko, Vyacheslav A. Trofimov

Published Sep 24, 1999• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In our report a new type of optical bistability is proposed. It is based on a violation of Snell's law of inclined laser beam that is reflected from a mirror having a hole at its axis. We demonstrate switching of light power passed through the hole. Time of switching is less than 10-13 c. In our opinion, this scheme has very good characteristics for creation of its base the optical switching element with very short time of switching and low energy of switching since we use refractive properties of medium.

DOI
10.1117/12.364547

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In our report a new type of optical bistability is proposed. It is based on a violation of Snell's law of inclined laser beam that is reflected from a mirror having a hole at its axis. We demonstrate switching of light power passed through the hole. Time of switching is less than 10-13 c. In our opinion, this scheme has very good characteristics for creation of its base the optical switching element with very short time of switching and low energy of switching since we use refractive properties of medium.
A new type of active optical bistability is described: frequency bistability as well as light intensity bistability. The device is quite simple—a laser with a passive filter. The gain medium of the laser is homogeneously broadened and has a broad fluorescence spectrum much greater than the longitudinal mode interval. The passive filter, in fact, is a set of mirrors with reflectivity varying with frequency. Its center frequency, that is, the frequency of maximum reflectivity, is different from that of the gain medium. The mechanism of this bistability is making use of the nonlinearity of both gain medium and passive filter vs frequency.
We experimentally demonstrate a fundamentally new type of intrinsic optical bistability that requires no resonant optical cavity. Operation is based on mutual self-focusing of counterpropagating laser beams in a nonlinear medium. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a fundamentally new type of optical bistability. 1 The operation of this new class of devices is based on self-focusing of light; the feedback required for bistability is provided by an apertured retroreflector. These devices exhibit intrinsic bistability (the feedback is optical) and are related to nonlinear waveguide devices proposed earlier. 2 Self-focusing occurs when a light beam having a nonuniform spatial profile (such as a Gaussian laser beam) and sufficient intensity propagates through a nonlinear medium having an intensity-dependent index of refraction. 3 Previously proposed devices that exhibited
When the output parameter of an optical device could be a multivalued function of the input parameter, this device can be working in an optical bistable status. The most typical optical bistable device is a Fabry–Perot cavity containing a nonlinear optical medium, the refractive index of which depends on the light intensity. Upon the action of an intense input optical beam, the transmitted (or reflected) intensity of this device may exhibit a nonlinear response to the incident light intensity variation and, especially under appropriate working conditions, the characteristic output/input curve may manifest a single (or multiple) hysteresis loop(s). Such type of optical bistable device can be used as an optical differential amplifier, optical switch, optical limiter, optical clipper, optical discriminator, or an optical memory element, depending on the chosen nonlinear medium and operation conditions.