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Optics Letters

Mirrorless dispersive optical bistability due to cross trapping of counterpropagating beams in sodium vapor

Kuochou Tai, A. Mysyrowicz, H. M. Gibbs, Nasser N. Peyghambarian

Published May 1, 1985• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the first observation to our knowledge of mirrorless optical bistability based on a dispersive effect, namely, cross-trapping optical bistability due to the mutual interaction of two counterpropagating beams. The phase conjugation of a probe beam generated by four-wave mixing in such a system is sensitive to the intensities of the counterpropagating beams and has been used to monitor the bistability.

DOI
10.1364/ol.10.000220

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Optical instabilities in sodium vapor

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We present here instabilities observed in the transverse profile of a continuous-wave light beam that crosses a sample of sodium vapor twice by means of a feedback mirror. The wave front and the intensity of the beam are spatially modulated by the intensity-dependent dispersive and absorptive action of the vapor. Experimental evidence indicates that the vapor acts as a phase-conjugate mirror, thus providing an active cavity when it is coupled with the feedback mirror. The instabilities develop as a consequence of sideband generation at the resonant modes of this cavity. The transverse-mode profiles of these sidebands are analyzed experimentally.

Journal of the Optical Society of America B•May 1, 1988•102 citations
We report the first observation to our knowledge of mirrorless optical bistability based on a dispersive effect, namely, cross-trapping optical bistability due to the mutual interaction of two counterpropagating beams. The phase conjugation of a probe beam generated by four-wave mixing in such a system is sensitive to the intensities of the counterpropagating beams and has been used to monitor the bistability.
The interaction of two counterpropagating beams in a nonlinear medium leads to many interesting phenomena. One such phenomenon is the occurrence of optical bistability arising from the mutual interaction of the two beams.1 This type of cross-trapping optical bistability is similar to one of those proposed by Kaplan.2 The physics of cross-trapping optical bistability is similar to the self-focusing bistability3 where self-trapping occurs in a single-beam/single-reflector setup. Cross-trapping bistability differs in that it has no external feedback and therefore is the first mirrorless bistability not based on an increasing absorption effect.
Many important effects such as optical bistability or periodic and chaotic self-pulsations have their origin in the interaction of two counterpropagating optical beams of the same frequency in a nonlinear medium. The investigation of the actual behavior of the standing waves set up inside a nonlinear Fabry-Perot etalon by an external pump beam is generally performed by observation of the transmitted beam. As predicted theoritically(1), intracavity phase conjugation is another way to test this interaction between the two counterpropagating pump waves inside the nonlinear cavity.
A mean field theory of nearly-degenerate four-wave mixing is developed for the optical bistability, which has recently been found in a phase-conjugate resonator consisting of a normal mirror and a phase-conjugate mirror under relatively strong pumping. The bistability in transmission of the probe beam occurs as the mirror separation or the probe offset frequency is changed, but for a limited range of probe beam intensity. This behavior is explained as occurring under injection-locked conditions because of combined effects of tilting and broadening, or narrowing of the resonance curves due to nonlinearities in the phase-conjugate reflectivity arising from pump depletion.
We present here instabilities observed in the transverse profile of a continuous-wave light beam that crosses a sample of sodium vapor twice by means of a feedback mirror. The wave front and the intensity of the beam are spatially modulated by the intensity-dependent dispersive and absorptive action of the vapor. Experimental evidence indicates that the vapor acts as a phase-conjugate mirror, thus providing an active cavity when it is coupled with the feedback mirror. The instabilities develop as a consequence of sideband generation at the resonant modes of this cavity. The transverse-mode profiles of these sidebands are analyzed experimentally.