Optical Bistability Experiments and Mean Field Theories

Pierre Meystre

L. A. Lugiato, R. Bonifacio

I. Popescu, Eliade N. Stefanescu, Paul E. Sterian

L. A. Lugiato, Lorenzo M. Narducci, Donna Kay Bandy +1 more

Rajarshi Roy, Muhammad Suhail Zubairy

The problem of dispersive optical bistability has so far been treated only in the mean-field approximation. A rigorous justification of the mean-field theory can only be obtained from exact solutions of the steadystate Maxwell-Bloch equations which retain the spatial dependence of the field. In this paper exact analytic solutions are presented for these equations. The authors demonstrate that the mean-field equation connecting the input and the output fields follows naturally from these solutions in the limits $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$, ${\ensuremath{\delta}}_{F}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$, and $\ensuremath{\alpha}L\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ for the mirror transmission coefficient, the detuning of the field from the cavity resonance, and the linear absorption, respectively, with $\frac{\ensuremath{\alpha}L}{2T}$ and $\frac{{\ensuremath{\delta}}_{F}L}{2cT}$ remaining finite. The results are illustrated with the help of graphs showing the output versus input intensity for different values of the relevant parameters. The effect of these parameters on the phase shift of the output field is also displayed.

Eric Curtis John Oliver

This thesis presents the theory of the driven optical ring cavity containing a nonlinear material. First, an overview of the history of bistability and spatial solitons in driven nonlinear cavities is outlined. Then, the basic theory of the optical Kerr effect is presented and two of its consequences are outlined: optical bistability and spatial solitons. Within this background, the mirror feedback model is derived from the Maxwell-Bloch equations and considerations of the classical optics of the cavity. This model is analytically shown to exhibit bistability in the plane wave case. The mean-field model is subsequently derived by applying the mean-field limit to the Maxwell-Bloch equations and the cavity optics. In addition, the mean-field model is analytically shown to exhibit bistability in the plane wave case. Numerical simulations are performed on the mean-field model demonstrating the existence of: (i) plane wave bistability, (ii) transverse modulational bistability, (iii) the ability to “switch†between bistable states in both the plane wave and modulated case, (iv) instabilities in the modulated case and (v) the possibility for optimization of the switching process. Finally, an application of bistable driven cavities is explored: an all-optical digital information processor and storage device.