Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics
Interaction between opposite waves and optical bistability in nonlinear randomly inhomogeneous heterogeneous media
Gregory B. Altshuler, Иночкин Михаил Владимирович, Aleksandr A. Manenkov
Abstract
An analysis is made of the main laws governing the propagation of opposite waves in a randomly inhomogeneous medium with a cubic refraction nonlinearity with respect to the field, allowing for interference. It is shown that, in spite of modulation of the optical intensity as a result of interference between the opposite waves, almost complete bleaching of a heterogeneous medium can be achieved for fairly large scattering particles. An analysis is made of an optical resonator filled with a randomly inhomogeneous nonlinear medium and the conditions for bistability are determined. It is established that a considerably lower Q factor than in similar devices using nonlinear absorbers is sufficient to achieve bistability in this resonator.