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Annual Meeting Optical Society of America

Observation of optical bistabillty in ZnS waveguides

B. C. Svensson, G. Assanto, D. Kuchibhatla, Ursula J. Gibson, C. T. Seaton, G. I. Stegeman

Published Jan 1, 1986• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Utilizing prism coupling of an argon laser beam into a nonlinear ZnS waveguide we have observed power-dependent optical bistability. We detuned the incidence angle by several linewidths from the optimal low power efficiency case. At this position we observed switching and hysteresis and verified the hysteresis loop to be bistable. The origin of the bistability we tentatively identified as a combination of intensity-dependent absorption and dispersion. Our conditions for bistability were different from those of W. Lukosz et al. in OPTICAL BISTABILITY III (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1986), p. 109.

DOI
10.1364/oam.1986.mt1

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Utilizing prism coupling of an argon laser beam into a nonlinear ZnS waveguide we have observed power-dependent optical bistability. We detuned the incidence angle by several linewidths from the optimal low power efficiency case. At this position we observed switching and hysteresis and verified the hysteresis loop to be bistable. The origin of the bistability we tentatively identified as a combination of intensity-dependent absorption and dispersion. Our conditions for bistability were different from those of W. Lukosz et al. in OPTICAL BISTABILITY III (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1986), p. 109.
Prism coupling of an argon laser into a ZnS waveguide was investigated for power slew rates much less than the nonlinearity relaxation time. The asymmetries and switching as a function of coupling conditions predicted by Carter and Chen1 are demonstrated clearly for the first time, we believe. In addition we also observed increasing absorption bistability2 in conditions consistent with the angular switching results but different from those in which bistability has been previously reported in ZnS waveguides.3
In the last chapter, we examined the effect of cubic nonlinearity on selfrefraction of an optical beam. We have also seen that the presence of a quadratic nonlinearity can also contribute to change in the profile of a Gaussian beam in a crystal. In this chapter we will see how the effect of nonlinearity, alongwith the proper feedback, can give rise to optical bistability and hysteresis. This is not unexpected as hysteresis and bistability are also observed in nonlinear electronic circuits with feedback, such as in the Schmitt trigger, as well as in hybrid optical devices, such as an acoustooptic device with feedback (Banerjee and Poon, 1991). In what follows, we will examine two different types of optically bistable devices based on optical nonlinearities. The first is a nonlinear ring resonator comprising a two-level gain medium as the nonlinear element. We will treat both absorptive and dispersive bistability. Absorptive bistability is the case when the incident optical frequency is close to or equal to the transition frequency of the atoms from one level to another. In this case, the absorption coefficient becomes a nonlinear function of the incident intensity. On the other hand, if the frequencies are far apart, the medium behaves like a Kerr-type material and the system exhibits what is called dispersive bistability. In this case the material can be modeled by an effective n2 or v (3), meaning that the refractive index becomes a nonlinear function of the optical intensity. The second configurationwewill examine is a linear-nonlinear interface. In this case, the interface provides the feedback due to refractive index mismatch. In fact, the reflection coefficient (as well as the transmission coefficient) is modified due to the nonlinearity, which, as we shall see later, is responsible for demonstrating optical switching and bistability.