Table Of ContentOptical Bistability
Optical Bistability
Edited by
Charles M. Bowden
US Army Missile Laboratory
Redstone Arsenal, Alabama
and
Mikael Ciftan
and
Hermann R. Robl
US Anny Research Office
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
Plenum Press . New York and London
Library of Congress Cataloging In Publication Data
International Conference on Optical Blstabillty (1980 Asheville, N C )
Optical bistability
"Invited papers presented at the International Conference on Optical Blstabllity,
held June 3-5,1980, In Asheville, North Carolina" - Verso of t p
Bibliography p
I neludes Index
1 Optical blstabllity - Congresses 2 Nonlinear optics-Congresses Bowden,
Charles M " Clftan, M "I Robl, Hermann R I V Title
QC446 15 16 19BO 535' 2 81-2559
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-3943-4 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-3941-0 AACR2
001: 10.1007/978-1-4684-3941-0
Invited papers presented at the International Conference on Optical Blstabillty,
held June 3-5, 1980, In Asheville, North Carolina
The Views, OpiniOnS, and/or findings contained In this book are those of the
author(s) and should not be construed as an offiCial Department of the Army
position or decIsion, unless so designated by other documentation
© 1981 Plenum Press, New York
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1981
A DIvIsion of Plenum Publishing Corporation
233 Spring Street, New York, N Y 10013
All rights reserved
No part of thiS book may be reproduced, stored In a retrieval system, or transmitted,
In any form or by any means, electrOnic, mechanical, photOCOPYing, microfilming,
recording or otherwise, Without written permission from the publisher
This volume is dedicated to the memory of
MARIO GRONCHI
Born in Como, Italy, on December 2, 1942; received his degree
in Physics in 1968 at the Univeristy of Pisa. Served at the
University of Milan as Professor of Quantum Electronics; made
distinct contributions in the field of Quantum Optics, especial
ly to the subjects of fluctuations in laser systems, superfluo
rescence, and optical bistability. Died in Milan on June 5, 1980.
PREFACE
During the past few decades we have witnessed at least two
major innovations in science which have had substantial impact on
technology as well as science itself, pervasive enough to modify
many facets of our daily lives. We refer, of course, to the tran
sistor and the laser. It is striking that now with the advent of
optical bistability we may have opened the door to another such
field, which combines these two aspects (transistor and laser)
and has the possibility for important device applications as well
as providing a unique window into the as yet not thoroughly
explored frontiers of nonequilibrium statistical physics.
This has prompted us to organize an international conference
on the subject of optical bistability to provide an adequate means
for assessing the current state of the art of this important field
and to stimulate further significant developments by means of in
tense technical exchange and interaction among the leading scien
tists in this subject area.
This volume is a collection of the invited papers presented
at the International Conference on Optical Bistability in Ashe
ville, North Carolina, June 3-5, 1980. The conference was
sponsored jointly by the U.S. Army Research Office in Durham,
North Carolina, and by the U.S. Army Missile Command, Redstone
Arsenal, Alabama. The conference was attended by more than forty
active leading scientists in the important and rapidly-expanding
field of optical bistability from various countries and various
parts of the United States. The conference was organized and
administrated by a committee consisting of the editors of this
volume.
So persuasive are the arguments presented at this conference
in support of the combined scientific and technological potential
of the rapidly-developing field of optical bistability that it is
not difficult to perceive that many useful devices may emerge
which indeed combine certain unique and beneficial features of
both the transistor and the laser for numerous innovative appli
cations. This conclusion may also be gleaned from the panel dis
cussion at the conference, which brings forth the critical
viii PREFACE
aspects of this subject yet to be fully investigated and understood.
We have made every effort to retain the flavor and workshop nature
of this international conference by including the panel discussion
in detail, the "panel" being all the participants who were present
that last day. The organizers believp that inclusion of the dis
cussion will serve as a valuable guide to future research.
The organizers wish to thank all the participants for a most
stimulating and fruitful conference. We are also grateful to each
contributor to this volume, which we believe is a significant con
tribution to the future development of the field.
C.M. Bowden
M. Ciftan
H.R. Robl
15 September 1980
CONTENTS
~Conditions and Limitations in Intrinsic Optical
Bistability . . . . . . . . • • • . . . • 1
S.L. McCall and H.M. Gibbs
Semiclassical and Quantum Statistical Dressed
Mode Description of Optical Bistability 9
V. Benza and L.A. Lugiato
Instabilities in Optical Bistability: Transform
from cw to Pulsed • • • . . . . 31
R. Bonifacio, M. Gronchi, and L.A. Lugiato
Bistable Systems in Nonlinear Optics . . . . • 51
D.F. Walls, P.D. Drummond, and K.J. McNeil
Bistability in Irradiated Josephson Junctions 85
G.S. Agarwal and S.R. Shenoy
Optical Bistability Experiments and Mean-Field
Theories •.•...•...... 93
W.J. SandIe, R.J. Ballagh, and A. Gallagher
Optical Bistability in a GaAs Etalon • . . . . 109
H.M. Gibbs, S.L. McCall, T.N.C. Venkatesan,
A. Passner, A.C. Gossard, and W. Wiegmann
Optical Bistability and Multi-Stability in the
Semiconductor InSb . . . . . . • • . . . 115
D.A.B. Miller, S.D. Smith, and C.T. Seaton
Optical Bistability Effects in a Dye Ring
Laser . . • . . . 127
L. Mandel, R. Roy, and S. Singh
Microwave Dispersive Bistability in a Confocal
Fabry-Perot Microwave Cavity . . . . . 151
E. Arimondo, A. Gozzini, L. Lovitch, and
E. Pistelli
ix
x CONTENTS
Bistability and Phase Transitions of Nuclear
Spin Systems . . . . . . . . . . 173
P. Bosiger, E. Brun, and D. Meier
Transient Phenomena in Bistable Devices 187
J.A. Goldstune, P.-T. Ho, and E. Garmire
Analytic Description of Multiphoton Optical
Bistability in a Ring Cavity ..... 199
J.A. Hermann and B.V. Thompson
Active Two-Beam Optical Bistability 221
G.P. Agrawal and C. Flytzanis
Absorptive and Dispersive Bistability for a
Doppler-Broadened Medium in a Fabry-
Perot: Steady-State Description . . . . . . . . .. 237
H.J. Carmichael and G.P. Agrawal
The Role of Phases in the Transient Dynamics
of Nonlinear Interferometers 265
J.D. Cresser and P. Meystre
Frequency Switching in Dispersive Optical
Bistability ...... . 28]
F.A. Hopf and S.A. Shakir
Dispersive Optical Bistability with Fluctuations . . . .. 293
R. Graham and A. Schenzle
Fluctuations and Transitions in the Absorptive
Optical Bistability ..... 315
J.C. Englund, W.C. Schieve, W. Zurek,
and R.F. Gragg
Short- and Long-Time Evolution in Absorptive
Optical Bistability ..... . 337
J.D. Farina, L.M. Narducci, J.M. Yuan,
and L.A. Lugiato
Cooperation in an Optical-Bistability System . . . . . .. 353
I.R. Senitzky and J. Genossar
The Driven Dicke Nodel and Its Hacroscopic
Extension: Bistability or Bifurcation? 367
S.S. Hassan and R.K. Bullough
Optical Bistability Based upon Atomic
Correlation in a Small Volume 405
C.M. Bowden
CONTENTS xi
Complex Order Parameters in Quantum Optics
First-order Phase Transition Analogies 431
C .R. Willis
Theory of Plane Wave Reflection and Refraction
by the Nonlinear Interface . . . . . . . 447
A.E. Kaplan
Optical Properties of Nonlinear Interfaces 463
P.W. Smith and W.J. Tomlinson
Applications of the Generalized P-Representation
to Optical Bistability . . . . . . . . . . 481
P.D. Drummond
Effects of Propagation, Transverse Mode
Coupling and Diffraction on Nonlinear
Light Pulse Evolution . . . . . . . . 503
F.P. Mattar
Panel Discussion 557
List of Contributors 599
Index 603
CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS IN INTRINSIC OPTICAL BISTABILITY
S. L. McCall and H. M. Gibbs*
Bell Laboratories
Murray Hill, N.J. 07974
First, we shall review the conditions for achieving optical
bistability in plane Fabry-Perot structures, and then mention ex
pectations for cases when the optical cavity is more general. Using
present experimental results, estimates of the minimum switching
energies, times, etc., are made. Hybrid devices are not considered.
In the absorptive case, the state equation is
(1)
where EI and ET are the input and output fields, suitably normalized
(e.g., Ref.l). The out-of-phase polarization v, which is a cur
rent, depends on the cavity-enclosed material. We normalize v so
that vIET -+ 1 as ET -+ 0, and then r = aLIT, where a is the absorption
constant of the material, L the length, and T the mirror transmis
sion.
If, for example
(2)
a simple absorber result, then r> 8 allows bistability2. In general
-1
r < idv/dETi (3)
is required1, where dv/dET is assumed to be negative in some region,
and the most negative value is used in Eq. 3.
*Present Address: Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona,
Tucson, AZ. 85721.
