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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Optical bistability by photothermal displacement in grating coupler configuration: a theoretical interpretation

P. Vincent, Hassan Akhouayri, M. Nevière

Published May 1, 1991• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The bistable behavior of an external grating coupler on a planar waveguide, which was previously discovered experimentally, is investigated by means of the electromagnetic theory of gratings. The theory accounts for all shapes of the observed hysteresis loops. The various shapes of the hysteresis loops, including the butterflylike shapes, are explained.

DOI
10.1364/josab.8.001149

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The bistable behavior of an external grating coupler on a planar waveguide, which was previously discovered experimentally, is investigated by means of the electromagnetic theory of gratings. The theory accounts for all shapes of the observed hysteresis loops. The various shapes of the hysteresis loops, including the butterflylike shapes, are explained.
We have identified photothermal displacement as a mechanism for optical bistability (OB) in prism coupling into absorbing planar waveguides: heating by the absorbed incoupled power causes a buckling of the waveguide, a reduction in air-gap width, and thus an increase in incoupling efficiency and a positive feedback. We developed a theory of this OB that qualitatively agrees well with experimental results obtained by coupling argon-laser light into indium-tin oxide layers as strongly absorbing waveguides. This new OB is quite different from dispersive OB in prism or grating couplers caused by a power-dependent effective guide index.
The 'external' grating coupler is a diffraction grating pressed against the planar waveguide in a similar way as a prism coupler. Such couplers have, to the best of our knowledge, not been used in integrated optics. The couplers normally used are surface relief gratings on the waveguide. We report on a new type of optical bistability (OB) which occurs only with external but not with normal grating couplers. The air gap of width d, where 0≤d≤λ, plays an essential role in the OB mechanism.