Analytic description of optical bistability including spatial effects

J.A. Hermann, B. V. Thompson

Nikolai N Rozanov, Федоров Анатолий Валентинович, Galina V. Khodova

Luigi A. Lugiato

Seyed Morteza Mousavi, Zahra Amini Sabegh, Reza Kheradmand +1 more

The effect of the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light beams on the optical bistability (OB) phenomenon has been investigated in a three-level quantum system. In a first step, we consider a Λ -type configuration in which the coupling field is assumed as a Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) beam. It is shown that the OB strength spatially depends on the intensity profile as well as the topological charge (TC) of the light beam. In a second scheme, we apply a strong microwave field to the lower level transition and obtain an analytical expression for the OB behavior of the probe field in the presence of an LG field in the multi-photon resonance condition. We analytically obtain a generalized input–output bistability relation for the systems containing the LG beam. More complicated phase-dependent OB profiles can be obtained for higher order LG modes due to the OAM transfer and classical interference between the generated field and applied fields. The results of this paper may provide a potential application of OB in generating simultaneously reconfigurable sets of various optical logic gates in the same structure, as well as in enhancing the capacity of fast volatile bit-level optical memories.

E. Abraham, R. Bullough, Saad S. M. Hassan

Joseph W. Haus, Li Wang, Michael Scalora +1 more

Using the nonlinear oscillator model as a prototype medium exhibiting intrinsic optical bistability, we investigate the inhomogeneous absorption of the electromagnetic field. The forward- and backward-field amplitudes and diffraction effects are retained in the mathematical description. Analytic results are given in the limit of plane-wave propagation under steady-state conditions. The transmitted and reflected intensity exhibit a structure that is determined by the spatial inhomogeneity of the absorption in the longitudinal direction. The transmitted intensity has a structure that is dependent on the length of the medium. The reflected intensity has an interference structure from light reflected at the front surface and the internal boundary separating a high-polarization from a low-polarization branch. A degenerate-four-wave-mixing experiment is predicted to be a very sensitive probe of the internal boundary and the interference between the forward and backward field. The phase-conjugate signal develops large oscillations as the input field is varied. Numerical results for diffraction effects are also given, and we find that the plane-wave results for the center of the beam remain reliable down to Fresnel numbers of order unity and in media that are smaller than the linear absorption length.