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

Mirrorless Bistability In A Thin Absorbing Film Induced By A New Mechanism

L. Roso

Published Jul 10, 1987• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The propagation of laser light through a thin absorbing film is theoretically studied. Computed steady-state solutions of the Maxwell-Bloch equations describing the unidimensional propagation of a plane monochromatic wave without introducing the slowly varying envelope approximation are presented that show how saturation effects can influence the absorption of the field. Those solutions indicate a new mechanism that can result in a bistable response of a thin absorbing film. This mechanism is closely related to the so-called self-induced reflectivity.

DOI
10.1117/12.937117

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The propagation of laser light through a thin absorbing film is theoretically studied. Computed steady-state solutions of the Maxwell-Bloch equations describing the unidimensional propagation of a plane monochromatic wave without introducing the slowly varying envelope approximation are presented that show how saturation effects can influence the absorption of the field. Those solutions indicate a new mechanism that can result in a bistable response of a thin absorbing film. This mechanism is closely related to the so-called self-induced reflectivity.
Propagation of laser light through a saturable absorber is theoretically studied. Computed steady state solutions of the Maxwell equations describing the unidimensional propagation of a plane monochromatic wave without introducing the slowly-varying envelope approximation are presented showing how saturation effects can influence the absorption of the field. At a certain range of refractive index and extintion coefficients, computed solutions display a very susprising behaviour, and a self-reflected wave appears inside the absorber. This can be useful for a new kind of biestable device, similar to a standard bistable cavity but with the back mirror self-induced by the light.
The propagation of laser light a few wavelengths inside a saturable absorber is theoretically studied. Computed steady-state solutions of the Maxwell–Bloch equations that describe the unidimensional propagation of a plane monochromatic wave, without introducing the slowly varying envelope approximation, show how saturation effects can influence this propagation. This can even lead to the appearance of a self-reflected wave inside the absorber because of the refractive-index changes that are induced by nonlinear coupling. One finds a close relation between the failure of the slowly varying envelope approximation and the presence of the self-reflected wave.
The optical transmissivity of a mirrorless, nonlinear, absorbing dielectric thin film is investigated numerically. The dielectric function in the film region is dependent on the intensity of the electromagnetic field. Multivalued solutions of transmissivity as a function of incident power are calculated for the steady-state wave equation. The numerical solution is applied to two different model dielectric functions. As the absorption parameter is increased, larger values of incident intensity are required to switch the systems between stable output states. Also, the peak values of transmissivity are reduced as the absorption is increased.