Bistability by Reflection at the Boundary of a Saturable Absorber

Enrique Conejero Jarque, Victor A Malyshev

L. Mishra

Nikolai N Rozanov, Galina V. Khodova

L. Roso

Numerical analysis of the Maxwell—Bloch equations shows that the normal incidence reflection of a plane monochromatic wave at the boundary of an absorber built up by independent two-level systems at rest exhibits bistable behavior. The propagation equation is where F is the rescaled field amplitude at each point of the absorber and ψ is another dimensionless parameter that accounts for the strength of the coupling.

L. Roso, M. Ll. Pons

The absorption and reflection of a plane wave at the interface of a linear dielectric and a very dense saturable absorber is studied in situations where the linear refractive index has an imaginary part that is much bigger than its real part. In this domain of parameters, computed results calculated without the use of the slowly varying envelope approximation show the presence of a self-reflected wave that eventually might lead to a bistable reflectivity.

L. Roso

Propagation of laser light through a saturable absorber is theoretically studied. Computed steady state solutions of the Maxwell equations describing the unidimensional propagation of a plane monochromatic wave without introducing the slowly-varying envelope approximation are presented showing how saturation effects can influence the absorption of the field. At a certain range of refractive index and extintion coefficients, computed solutions display a very susprising behaviour, and a self-reflected wave appears inside the absorber. This can be useful for a new kind of biestable device, similar to a standard bistable cavity but with the back mirror self-induced by the light.