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Optics Letters

Pure phase bistability with a nonlinear slab waveguide

Marc Haelterman

Published Sep 1, 1988• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe the bistable behavior of a nonlinear triple-boundary slab waveguide. We show that, in addition to the previously reported reflected intensity bistability, this device exhibits bistability in the phase of the reflected beam. It is shown that pure phase signal bistability is possible. A system based on the Mach-Zehnder interferometric configuration is proposed to achieve a high-contrast bistable switch.

DOI
10.1364/ol.13.000791

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Modern Physics Letters B•Apr 30, 2006•30 citations
We describe the bistable behavior of a nonlinear triple-boundary slab waveguide. We show that, in addition to the previously reported reflected intensity bistability, this device exhibits bistability in the phase of the reflected beam. It is shown that pure phase signal bistability is possible. A system based on the Mach-Zehnder interferometric configuration is proposed to achieve a high-contrast bistable switch.
We develop an approximate analytical theory for the reflection of a finite-width square-wave light beam at a nonlinear interface and make use of the results to assess the effect of the finiteness of the incident beam on the bistability of the signal reflected from a triple boundary interface under conditions for excitation of a waveguide mode. The nonlinearity of the interface is assumed to result from a substrate medium that has a Kerr-type quadratic dependence on the local electric-field amplitude. Our results indicate that the finiteness of the width of the incident beam substantially reduces the magnitude of the reflectance jump at the bistable switching point in comparison with that predicted by an exact plane-wave theory. Nevertheless, we conclude that a bistable reflectivity should still exist for the geometry that we consider at the switching intensity predicted by the plane-wave theory.
We present an exact plane-wave treatment of the triple-boundary waveguide geometry for the study of optical bistability. It is found that the switching intensity required to observe the desired switching behavior is lower by at least a factor of 25 from that previously reported, thus making this geometry a prime candidate for experimental investigation. A comparison with the results of an approximate theory is also presented, showing that the approximate theory closely describes the behavior of the system as predicted by the exact theory.
Nonlinearity induced by intensity-dependent refractive indices (Kerr media) can be used as a means to conceive light detectors sensitive to very weak excitation. This property results from the bistability properties of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation submitted to boundary value data on the finite interval. The detector is obtained by coupling two single 1D waveguide to a 2D slab waveguide with adjusted indices. The resulting device then presents unusual light propagation properties and in particular may switch from almost vanishing to intense output under excitation by a weak signal.