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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Polarization-induced switching and polarization bistability in nonlinear planar resonators with diffusive nonlinearity

Jan Danckaert, Hugo Thienpont A, Irina P. Veretennicoff

Published Jun 28, 1993• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

To merge the fields of polarization and nonlinear optics opens wide perspectives. The present work aims at investigating some of them. It is shown, on one hand, that if a nonlinear Fabry- Perot resonator filled with an optically isotropic material is addressed by an obliquely incident beam, the transmitted irradiance can switch from an up to a down state (or the reverse) if its polarization is properly modulated. If on the other hand the nonlinear cavity is filled with a linearly birefringent material, polarization optical bistability can occur, even at normal incidence. This polarization bistability can arise both by modulating the incident irradiance and by modulating the incident polarization. Optical bistability of the transmitted irradiance can also be induced by the modulation of the polarization of the incident beam. All these features provide new tools for parallel digital optical information processing.

DOI
10.1117/12.147902

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To merge the fields of polarization and nonlinear optics opens wide perspectives. The present work aims at investigating some of them. It is shown, on one hand, that if a nonlinear Fabry- Perot resonator filled with an optically isotropic material is addressed by an obliquely incident beam, the transmitted irradiance can switch from an up to a down state (or the reverse) if its polarization is properly modulated. If on the other hand the nonlinear cavity is filled with a linearly birefringent material, polarization optical bistability can occur, even at normal incidence. This polarization bistability can arise both by modulating the incident irradiance and by modulating the incident polarization. Optical bistability of the transmitted irradiance can also be induced by the modulation of the polarization of the incident beam. All these features provide new tools for parallel digital optical information processing.
The combination of polarization optics and nonlinear optics gives rise to interesting new physical phenomena1. In the work presented here we will focus on planar resonators with a nonlinearity of diffusive nature, such as the nonlinear Fabry-Perot resonator (NLFP). There are two ways to display the role of polarization in the bistable response of such a device. First, in a configuration where the light wave is obliquely incident on the resonator, as the interface's reflectances depend on the polarization state of the incident light. Second, in a configuration where the beam impinges normally on a resonator now filled with an anisotropic material, as a phase shift is induced between the linear Airy resonances of the two polarization eigenmodes. In this paper, two dynamic theories for planar resonators are presented for both configurations mentioned above, for an arbitrary polarization of the incident plane wave.
Polarization bistability has been proposed as having a number of advantages over conventional schemes.1 We have investigated polarization switching in a Fabry-Perot cavity filled with an aligned nematic. In this nonlinear, birefringent cavity, the transmittance for each polarization is a single valued function of the irradiance inside the cavity. This couples the two polarizations so that, unless sufficiently separated spatially, they switch simultaneously. Although limiting the range of possible applications, this coupling may be used to advantage to implement some optical latches.
Experiments on the steady-state, nonlinear behavior of the 7F1^{7}\mathrm{F}_{1}7F1​${\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}^{7}$F0o{\mathrm{F}}_{0}^{\mathrm{o}}F0o​ 570.68-nm transition of atomic samarium in a laser-driven, near-concentric Fabry-Perot cavity are reported. For zero applied magnetic field, only simple optical bistability, symmetric in both ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{+}$ and ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ transmitted polarizations, is observed for a linearly polarized excitation beam. However, for a magnetic field applied parallel to the propagation direction, polarization-sensitive switching appears, with lowest power threshold near the edge of the Doppler-broadened region. Subsidiary measurements of atomic parameters are also given to enable the transition to be experimentally well characterized.
An analysis is made of nonlinear optical phenomena associated with a change in the orientation of the director of a liquid crystal induced by an optical field and resulting in optical bistability. The usual configurations with a nonlinear Fabry-Perot resonator and several other configurations are considered. Bistable cells with cholesterics are proposed: in these cells the nonlinearity is associated with the absorption of the incident and reflected light and is related—via the temperature of the cell—to the cholesteric helix period. Devices are considered in which switching from one state to another takes place as a result of a change in radiation parameters (such as the frequency or polarization) other than the power.