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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Effects of diffraction and diffusion in dispersive optical bistability in Fabry–Perot étalons

Ulf Olin

Published Jan 1, 1988• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Transverse effects in optical bistability, when both diffraction and diffusion are taken into account, have been studied. A numerical method is presented, as well as results for dispersive optical bistability in Fabry–Perot resonators for different diffusion lengths. It is shown that for small spot sizes, diffraction considerably influences the transmission characteristics and hysteresis disappears when diffusion is present.

DOI
10.1364/josab.5.000020

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Transverse Effects in Optical Bistability in the Context of Parallel Processing

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For reasons of speed and economy, applications of dispersive optical bistability are likely to concentrate on solid-state devices of small volume. In this paper we will discuss the modelling and optimisation of such devices, particularly in relation to possible pixel size and spatial resolution. Diffusion (1,2), rather than diffraction (3), is the dominant transverse coupling mechanism in the two current solid-state systems (InSb etalon (4) and ZnSe-spaced interference filter (5)), capable of cw hold and optical address, but we will argue that in an optimised device diffraction and diffusion will be equally important.

•Jan 1, 1985•0 citations
Transverse effects in optical bistability, when both diffraction and diffusion are taken into account, have been studied. A numerical method is presented, as well as results for dispersive optical bistability in Fabry–Perot resonators for different diffusion lengths. It is shown that for small spot sizes, diffraction considerably influences the transmission characteristics and hysteresis disappears when diffusion is present.
There is an increasing interest in all-epitaxial Fabry-Perot etalons for optical bistability1,2 and optical logic gates.3 To model these devices theoretically, the wave equation, carrier diffusion equation, and heat conduction equation must be solved self-consistently for the layered structure. To investigate the effects of small spot sizes, the wave equation must include diffraction, whereas for the heat conduction equation both longitudinal (perpendicular to the layers) as well as transverse (parallel to the layers) heat conduction must be taken into account.
For reasons of speed and economy, applications of dispersive optical bistability are likely to concentrate on solid-state devices of small volume. In this paper we will discuss the modelling and optimisation of such devices, particularly in relation to possible pixel size and spatial resolution. Diffusion (1,2), rather than diffraction (3), is the dominant transverse coupling mechanism in the two current solid-state systems (InSb etalon (4) and ZnSe-spaced interference filter (5)), capable of cw hold and optical address, but we will argue that in an optimised device diffraction and diffusion will be equally important.