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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Multiple-order spatial hysteresis and radial variation of output in an indium antimonide bistable cavity

A V Grigor'yants, I.N. Dyuzhikhov

Published Jul 1, 1990• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Transverse effects in optical bistability are experimentally investigated by spatial scanning of the near-field profile of the reflected beam in an InSb interferometer at 5.6 μm and 80 K. Spatial hysteresis is clearly observed for two interference orders, while the character of the hysteresis loops shows strong dependence on the radial coordinate and also on interference order. The results are consistent with an electronic nonlinearity and a dominantly diffusive transverse coupling.

DOI
10.1364/josab.7.001303

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Transverse effects in optical bistability are experimentally investigated by spatial scanning of the near-field profile of the reflected beam in an InSb interferometer at 5.6 μm and 80 K. Spatial hysteresis is clearly observed for two interference orders, while the character of the hysteresis loops shows strong dependence on the radial coordinate and also on interference order. The results are consistent with an electronic nonlinearity and a dominantly diffusive transverse coupling.
We investigate the time-dependent behavior of an optically thin passive medium driven by an external coherent signal and show dynamical hysteresis effects in the regimes of large and small Fresnel numbers, positive and negative detuning, and changes in the cavity quality. We attribute shifting and deformation of the bistable loop and spatial hysteresis to free-space diffraction effects that are independent of diffusive and diffractive coupling within the medium. Since radial variation of the bistable loop is not present in the parameter space explored, we suggest that free-space diffraction does not contribute to this effect and adds weight to experimental findings that evidence diffusive coupling as the dominant mechanism for radial variations of the bistable loop.
We have characterized the transverse spatial dependence of the real and the imaginary parts of the complex nonlinear refractive index of a semiconductor-doped glass filter that exhibits absorptive bistability. Using the Z-scan technique combined with an interferometric measurement of the integrated optical thickness, we are able to fit the observed experimental data, assuming a quadratically varying transverse temperature profile in the sample. The transverse variations in the nonlinear refractive index do not scale directly with the size of the incident beam but exhibit marked asymmetries that depend on whether the incident beam is converging or diverging.
We report the observation of optical stability for a plane parallel semiconductor crystal which forms a Fabry-Perot interferometer using only the natural reflectivity of its surfaces. Nonlinear transmission is observed for cw laser intensities above ∼ 100 W/cm2 for radiation at 1895 cm−1 near the energy gap of InSb at 5 K. The effect is interpreted in terms of a very large intensity-dependent refractive index giving a 5λ/2 optical thickness change for an intensity of ∼2 kW/cm2. Clear bistability is seen in fifth-order interference, the first such observation above first order in an intrinsic, one-element system, in addition to regions exhibiting signal amplification. The same crystal also shows strong modulation of the transmission of one laser beam induced by a second, with real signal gain, thus demonstrating an ’’optical transistor.’’
Transverse effects are known to play a central role in nonlinear-optical systems.Since experiments are generally performed with lasers with finite transverse dimensions, the transverse nature of the field must be considered.Experimental evidence, for example, indicates that mechanisms in the form of diffusive and diffractive coupling within the medium, free-space diffraction, or some combination of these, can create transverse structures which are important in optical bistability and self-focusing/defocusing.In particular, transverse coupling is attributed to such phenomena as radial dependence of the switch up times of bistable loops, spatial hysteresis, and the formation of solitary waves in passive systems.The dynamical effects of free-space diffraction in a unidirectional ring cavity containing a thin resonant absorber driven by an external coherent signal is considered.Minimal focusing effects exist in this system by incorporating a thin medium whose width is small compared to the cavity length and Raleigh range.There is no restriction on the medium response time relative to the round trip time; i.e. the time-dependent polarization is not adiabatically eliminated from the equations of motion.Free-space diffraction effects are isolated and diffraction and diffusive coupling within the medium is negligible.In this model where free-space diffraction is the dominant mechanism for changing the field profile in the system, shifting, deformation, and radial variation of the bistable loop and spatial hysteresis is attributed to an inherent dispersion induced by the free-space diffraction.
Self-focusing effects in optical bistable hysteresis loops have been observed in a GaAs-GaAlAs superlattice.1 Experimentally, one sees drastic overshooting in the hysteresis loops and changes in the output profile as the imaging lens is translated along the propagation direction, thus imaging different object planes onto a fixed image plane (i.e. aperture). Nearly identical results are found by a one-transverse-dimension numerical simulation of good-cavity bistability in which the output is free-space propagated backwards in space, corresponding to the movement of the imaging lens. These effects arise from a radially-dependent phase shift caused by the excitonic nonlinear refraction and a gaussian beam profile.