Diffractive and diffusive phenomena in optically bistable devices

Yuchi Chen

J. A. Goldstone, P.-T. Ho, E. Garmire

Denis L. Weaire, J. P. Kermode, V. M. Dwyer

W. J. Firth, E. Abraham, Ernest Marshall Wright +2 more

Abstract For reasons of speed and economy, applications of optical bistability are likely to concentrate on solid-state devices of small volume. In this paper we discuss the modelling and optimization of such devices. We report calculations of surface reflectivity optimization in the presence of absorption, and show that optical bistability in reflection offers significant advantages over transmission. Small transverse dimensions, i.e. dense packing, are limited by cross-talk between neighbouring devices. We show that diffraction and diffusion give rise to qualitatively similar effects

W. J. Firth, Jerome V. Moloney, Stanley Desmond Smith +5 more

For reasons of speed and economy, applications of dispersive optical bistability are likely to concentrate on solid-state devices of small volume. In this paper we will discuss the modelling and optimisation of such devices, particularly in relation to possible pixel size and spatial resolution. Diffusion (1,2), rather than diffraction (3), is the dominant transverse coupling mechanism in the two current solid-state systems (InSb etalon (4) and ZnSe-spaced interference filter (5)), capable of cw hold and optical address, but we will argue that in an optimised device diffraction and diffusion will be equally important.

Ulf Olin, Olof Sahlén

We report on a realistic model for optically bistable GaAs/AlGaAs Fabry-Perot étalons. The model incorporates diffraction, carrier diffusion, and heat conduction, taking all the layers of the structure into account. For the optical nonlinearity the carrier density and temperature-dependent plasma theory is used. Devices with less than a 1-K temperature rise should be possible to design.