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Optics Letters

Optical bistability in the frustrated-total-reflection optical cavity

Bruno Bosacchi, Lorenzo M. Narducci

Published Jun 1, 1983• 26 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The nonlinear behavior of a frustrated-total-reflection (FTR) optical cavity containing a nonlinear Kerr medium is considered. It is shown that optical bistability may occur at lower incident power than in the nonlinear interface system. Other potential advantages of the resonant FTR configuration over other geometries are also briefly discussed.

DOI
10.1364/ol.8.000324

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The nonlinear behavior of a frustrated-total-reflection (FTR) optical cavity containing a nonlinear Kerr medium is considered. It is shown that optical bistability may occur at lower incident power than in the nonlinear interface system. Other potential advantages of the resonant FTR configuration over other geometries are also briefly discussed.
The recent observation of very large non-linearities and of optical bistability in semiconductor structures at room temperature has heightened the interest in all-optical switching and signal processing as a practical prospect in optical information technology. Along with the search for suitable non-linear materials, some attention is also being paid to the study of structural configurations designed to optimize the performance of a bistable device. In this paper we will discuss the resonant FTR (Frustrated Total Reflection) approach, as an experimental configuration fully compatible with semiconductor and integrated optics technologies, which should lower the power requirements of a bistable device through the "enhancement" of the optical field inside its non-linear region.
Both static and dynamic characteristics of light reflected from a specially designed multilayer metal-dielectric structure with Kerr nonlinearity have been studied in this work. Various regimes of nonlinear reflection from the structure have been demonstrated, including bistable switching between low and high reflection states, which occurs at low intensity of the incident light due to a significant enhancement in the optical field in the nonlinear layer under conditions of total internal reflection. This nonlinear structure has been proposed to use as an optically controlled intracavity laser modulator.