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Optics Letters

Mirrorless optical bistability in a nonlinear absorbing dielectric film

Kevin L. Stokes, Ashok Puri

Published Sep 1, 1990• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The optical transmissivity of a mirrorless, nonlinear, absorbing dielectric thin film is investigated numerically. The dielectric function in the film region is dependent on the intensity of the electromagnetic field. Multivalued solutions of transmissivity as a function of incident power are calculated for the steady-state wave equation. The numerical solution is applied to two different model dielectric functions. As the absorption parameter is increased, larger values of incident intensity are required to switch the systems between stable output states. Also, the peak values of transmissivity are reduced as the absorption is increased.

DOI
10.1364/ol.15.000986

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Applied Optics•May 19, 2020•9 citations
The optical transmissivity of a mirrorless, nonlinear, absorbing dielectric thin film is investigated numerically. The dielectric function in the film region is dependent on the intensity of the electromagnetic field. Multivalued solutions of transmissivity as a function of incident power are calculated for the steady-state wave equation. The numerical solution is applied to two different model dielectric functions. As the absorption parameter is increased, larger values of incident intensity are required to switch the systems between stable output states. Also, the peak values of transmissivity are reduced as the absorption is increased.
We present a theoretical discussion of the optical reflectivity and transmissivity of a dielectric slab of arbitrary thickness, with index of refraction that contains a term proportional to the intensity of the optical wave in the slab. An exact solution is found for the problem, in terms of a single parameter whose value is determined through a straightforward numerical search procedure. We present numerical studies of the power dependence of the transmissivity, with emphasis on bistability, and the multivalued behavior of the transmissivity considered as a function of incident power.
We show that the optical response of a nonlinear dielectric film may exhibit optical bistability even in the thin-film limit. Using a rigorous numerical treatment, we also show that the resonant excitation of nonlinear guided modes propagating along the film leads to switching intensities 104{10}^{4}104 times lower than those obtained with use of the resonances associated with the Airy function.
A nonlinear thin film bounded by two dielectric media could act as an optical switching and bistability device, owing to two physical mechanisms at work near the total internal reflection state. One is the simple intensity-dependent index change induced by the finite optical field in the film before transmission occurs, and the other is the nonlinear Fabry-Perot interference associated with the high reflectivities at the two interfaces when transmission takes place. We present a detailed theory for these two mechanisms and for the case in which the nonlinearity is also nonlocal (e.g., in a liquid-crystal film). The results for multiple switchings and hysteresis hold in general for any nonlinear thin film.
In this paper, a thin film of oil red O coated by partial dielectric mirrors (PRFORO) operating as an optical bistable device is proposed. The equation of the output-input intensity relation considering nonlinear absorption inside PRFORO is derived and the optical bistability (OB) of PRFORO is shown. Additionally, the influence of the nonlinear refractive, absorptive coefficients of oil red O (ORO), reflective coefficient of mirrors, and the thickness of thin film on the OB is numerically investigated and discussed. As a result, the threshold switching power is lower than 19 mW; the minimum power of output up-state is larger than 40 µW for the optimal PRFORO designed with an ORO concentration larger than 0.1 mM; the thickness of the thin film is longer than 0.1 mm; and the reflective coefficient of mirrors is lower than 93%. The proposed model is suitable for all-optical switches, optical images, and signal processing.