An electrically addressable nonlinear optical bistable device

J. Staromlynska, R.A. Clay

C. F. Li

K. Daneshvar, Gilbert U. Singco

The electrical equivalence of optical bistability consists of a circuit with input V/sub i/, output V/sub 0/, and transmission T(V/sub 0//V/sub i/) which is nonlinear with respect to input. A circuit with the above characteristics has been constructed. This circuit consists of a dissipative resonator with voltage-controlled capacitors and resistance as nonlinear elements. It is shown that bistable electric resonance circuits can function as an electrical equivalent with many important characteristics of an optical bistable device.>

C.H.Lee, S.Y.Kim, Soon Young Shin +1 more

John E. Bjorkholm, P. W. E. Smith, W. J. Tomlinson +3 more

We have experimentally demonstrated a fundamentally new type of intrinsic optical bistability. The operation of this new class of device is based on self-focusing of a laser beam as it propagates through a nonlinear medium. It further differs from previous optical devices which exhibited intrinsic bistability (only optical feedback, no electrical feedback) in that the earlier devices have all required resonant optical cavities; no such cavity is required for this new type of device.

P. W. E. Smith