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Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics

Optical bistability in an excited nonlinear corrugated waveguide

I A Avrutskiĭ, Vladimir A. Sychugov

Published Jul 31, 1990• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

An analysis is made of anomalous reflection of light from the surface of a corrugated waveguide when the refractive index of the waveguide layer depends on the radiation power. It is shown that bistable reflection of light is possible if the deviation from the optimal excitation of the waveguide is selected suitably. Estimates are obtained of the power required for bistable operation in multilayer waveguide structures composed partly of GaAs–AlGaAs superlattices.

DOI
10.1070/qe1990v020n07abeh007119

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An analysis is made of anomalous reflection of light from the surface of a corrugated waveguide when the refractive index of the waveguide layer depends on the radiation power. It is shown that bistable reflection of light is possible if the deviation from the optimal excitation of the waveguide is selected suitably. Estimates are obtained of the power required for bistable operation in multilayer waveguide structures composed partly of GaAs–AlGaAs superlattices.
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Previously reported observations of optical bistability in a GaAs/GaAlAs waveguide cavity included whole-sample thermally induced absorptive and refractive bistability [1] and localised (μs) thermally induced absorptive bistability [2]. Other groups have observed refractive bistability due to an optoelectronic mechanism in MQW GaAs/GaAlAs waveguides [3,4]. In this paper we report the observation of bistability due to thermally induced changes in leaky modes within a GaAs/GaAlAs waveguide and discuss the optimisation of optoelectronic nonlinearities in semiconductor guides of this type. A leaky planar waveguide consists of a low index layer bounded by two higher index layers. These exhibit radiative losses, where for the nth order mode the attenuation coefficient is proportional to (n+1)2 [5]. In this investigation the waveguides used were short enough to allow good transmission of the lower order modes.
Bistable optical systems are of considerable interest to produce high-speed optical signal-processing devices. Among them, those that use a nonlinear optical medium are attractive because they allow the lowest possible switching time. By the use of a suitable electromagnetic resonance, the bistability threshold can be lowered to a reasonnable value, for the incident power. Keeping in mind that a bistable optical system should be well adapted to optical integration in a planar geometry, one is naturally confronted to a corrugated waveguide filled with a nonlinear (Kerr) medium.
Wysin et al1 suggested that the local field enhancement near a metal surface which occurs if surface plasmons are excited in a metal film, can be useful for observing optical bistability arising from the nonlinearity of the Kerr medium. Other geometrical arrangements2 have also been suggested. These studies assume plane waves in the nonlinear medium and use the Fresnel formulae for reflection and refraction from a layered medium but with linear refractive index replaced by the nonlinear refractive index. This assumes that the fields in the medium are homogeneous. However if surface plasmons are excited, then the fields are inhomogeneous and one has the problem of reflection and refraction from an inhomogeneous layered medium. The inhomogeneity is to be determined self consistently. Thus a proper treatment of optical bistability with surface plasmons should use the nonlinear solutions of the wave equation in Kerr medium. This is what we do in this paper.
Bistability of an optical resonator with distributed Bragg-reflectors is analyzed by using the coupled-mode theory. Hysteresis and nonlinear properties are given as a function of the quantities characterizing the Kerr medium (the quadratic electrooptic coefficient n 2 and the length of the Kerr medium l ) and the propagation characteristics of the corrugated waveguide (the coupling coefficient k and the optical loss in the corrugated waveguide Γ). We show that the optical resonator with distributed Bragg-reflectors has a multi-valued transmission characteristic by the Kerr effect. From the numerical calculations, the up-switching and down-switching power intensities of bistable operation are estimated.