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Topical Meeting on Optical Bistability (OB)

Switching Behavior of Bistable Resonators Filled with Two-Level Atoms

E. Chang, Gene D. Cooperman, M. Dagenais, H. G. Winful

Published Jan 1, 1983• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A comprehensive numerical and analytical study of the switching dynamics of bistable optical devices is reported. The intracavity medium is modelled as an ensemble of two-level atoms which may be either homogeneously or inhomogeneously broadened. By allowing for arbitrary atomic detunings and cavity mistunings, both the absorptive and dispersive contributions to optical bistability are included. Standing waves are fully taken into account in the usual way through Fourier expansions.

DOI
10.1364/obi.1983.thb20

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Physical Review A•Oct 1, 1983•143 citations
A comprehensive numerical and analytical study of the switching dynamics of bistable optical devices is reported. The intracavity medium is modelled as an ensemble of two-level atoms which may be either homogeneously or inhomogeneously broadened. By allowing for arbitrary atomic detunings and cavity mistunings, both the absorptive and dispersive contributions to optical bistability are included. Standing waves are fully taken into account in the usual way through Fourier expansions.
Observations of optical bistability are reported for a system composed of multiple atomic beams passing through a high-finesse optical cavity. Both the transmitted power and the intracavity fluorescent intensity have been recorded as functions of incident laser power for zero cavity and atomic detunings. A quantitative study has been made of the evolution of the steady-state switching intensities from well below the critical onset of bistability to well above this point. The results show reasonable agreement with a Gaussian-beam theory of optical bistability, but systematic departures are noted.
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical and experimental studies of atomic optical bistability and multistability, and their dynamical properties in systems with two- and three-level inhomogeneously-broadened atoms inside an optical cavity. By making use of the modified linear absorption and dispersion, as well as the greatly enhanced nonlinearity in the three-level electromagnetically induced transparency system, the optical bistablity and efficient all-optical switching can be achieved at relatively low laser powers, which can be well controlled and manipulated. Until now, the rapid rate of progress in applications of multilevel systems in cross-disciplinary field has made it difficult to newcomers to the field to obtain a broad overview of this topic. This monograph will serve the purpose.
A general theory of optical bistability for a homogeneously broadened two-level system in a Fabry-Perot interferometer is presented. Both absorptive and dispersive mechanisms are included, and in the mean-field approximation a cubic state equation is derived relating transmitted intensity to all physical parameters. From the perspective of catastrophe theory, this equation describes an elementary cusp catastrophe. We show that bistable switching may follow not only from sweeping the incident laser intensity, but also with continuous variation of atomic or cavity detuning, or atomic density, with the laser intensity fixed. For the case having incident intensity as the variable control, the domain of bistability is studied in some detail as a function of the remaining fixed parameters. Stability criteria are considered for the general case including both absorption and dispersion.
In this paper, we investigate the nonlinear dynamical behavior of dispersive optical bistability (OB) for a homogeneously broadened two-level atomic medium interacting with a single mode of the ring cavity without invoking the rotating wave approximation (RWA). The periodic oscillations (self-pulsing) and chaos of the unstable state of the OB curve is affected by the counter rotating terms through the appearance of spikes during its periods. Further, the bifurcation with atomic detuning, within and outside the RWA, shows that the OB system can be converted from a chaotic system to self-pulsing system and vice-versa.
Observations of steady-state hysteresis in absorptive bistability are reported for well-collimated atomic beams of sodium within a traveling-wave interferometer. The atomic medium approximates a system of homogeneously broadened "two-level" atoms, and effects due to standing waves are eliminated. The experiment thus represents the first demonstration of optical bistability under conditions that have been widely employed in theoretical models. Absolute measurements of switching intensities versus atomic cooperativity CCC are reported, and a preliminary comparison with Gaussian-beam theory is made.