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Optics and Spectroscopy

Optical bistability and hysteresis of a thin layer of resonant emitters: Interplay of inhomogeneous broadening of the absorption line and the Lorentz local field

R. F. Malikov, Victor A Malyshev

Published Jun 1, 2017• 15 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate conditions for the occurrence of a bistable response from a thin layer of an ensemble of two-level inhomogeneously broadened emitters upon their interaction with resonant radiation. A Lorentz correction to the local field that acts on emitters is taken into account. Bistability phase diagrams in the parameter space (inhomogeneous broadening, detuning away from resonance, and local field) are calculated, and the occurrence of optical hysteresis of the system is demonstrated. In addition to this, we study the switching time from the lower stable branch of the bistable characteristics to the upper one and vice versa against the intensity of the driving field, which determines the operation speed of a bistable device. The possibility of using a thin layer of resonant emitters as a multichannel all-optical switch is discussed.

DOI
10.1134/s0030400x17060121

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We investigate conditions for the occurrence of a bistable response from a thin layer of an ensemble of two-level inhomogeneously broadened emitters upon their interaction with resonant radiation. A Lorentz correction to the local field that acts on emitters is taken into account. Bistability phase diagrams in the parameter space (inhomogeneous broadening, detuning away from resonance, and local field) are calculated, and the occurrence of optical hysteresis of the system is demonstrated. In addition to this, we study the switching time from the lower stable branch of the bistable characteristics to the upper one and vice versa against the intensity of the driving field, which determines the operation speed of a bistable device. The possibility of using a thin layer of resonant emitters as a multichannel all-optical switch is discussed.
An analysis is made of the operation of a laser with a saturable absorber and dominant inhomogeneous line broadening. A four-level model is used to determine the characteristics of mode intensities and conditions for the appearance of an optical bistability. By analogy with a two-level model, the results obtained demonstrate that in single-mode operation this bistability appears only if the relaxation coefficients of the upper levels of atomic or molecular systems are different in the amplifying and absorbing parts of a laser. Moreover, a change in the inhomogeneous broadening alters greatly the optical bistability interval. The calculation method used in the present study can be readily extended to analyze a multimode laser.
The field acting on the atoms in a medium is different from the averaged macroscopic field. The problem of the effective local field caused by dipole–dipole interaction has been discussed several times since Lorentz. In describing the nonlinear optical properties of optically thin resonant layers, it is of principal importance to take into consideration the dipole–dipole interaction of the atoms. These effects manifest themselves when certain relations between the parameters of the atomic system and the incident field are fulfilled. The presence of the excitonic lines shows that the dipole–dipole interaction is larger than the homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadenings. This gives reason to hope that the required inequalities are satisfied in such systems. The chapter considers boundary value problem and a linearly polarized plane wave, with amplitude slowly varying during one optical period, falls perpendicularly onto the surface of a plane-parallel, optically thin, resonant layer consisting of two-level atoms.
We describe a system of N two-level Rydberg atoms which travel through a resonant cavity and interact with a single mode of the resonator. N is assumed to be on the order of a few tens or hundreds of atoms. In particular, we analyze the case where the atoms are injected to the lower state (absorber) and the system is driven by an external coherent radiation field exactly resonant with the atoms and with the cavity. In the case of a monoenergetic atomic beam, the picture that arises is substantially different from that of standard optical bistability. The switching behavior is not governed by saturation, but by the Rabi cycles of the atoms in the cavity. The hysteresis cycle of the population of the upper level is butterfly shaped. When the bistability parameter exceeds an appropriate second threshold, the system displays multistability rather than simple bistability, and under proper conditions it develops domains of instability in positive-slope regions of the steady-state curve. We analyze the effects of a velocity distribution (thermal or Gaussian) in the atomic beam, and of inhomogeneous broadening caused by stray electric fields. Finally, we discuss the feasibility of an experimental observation of the effects predicted by our analysis.