Preface
Chapter 1. Introduction to Optical Bistability
1.1. Definition and Types of optical Bistability
1.2. Optical Logic with Bistable Devices
1.3. Optical Bistability in Lasers
1.4. Early History of Passive Optical Bistability
Chapter 2. Steady-State Models of Optical Bistability
2.1. Mean-field Model of Mixed Absorptive and Dispersive Bistability including in Homogeneous Broadening
2.2. SZOKE ET AL. Model of Absorptive Optical Bistability
2.3. Simple Model of Dispersive Optical Bistability
2.4. Bonifacio-Lugiato Models
2.4.1. Mean-Field Theory of Absorptive Bistability
2.4.2. Analytical Theory with Spatial Variation for Absorptive Optical Bistability in a Ring Cavity
2.4.3. Mixed Absorptive and Dispersive Optical Bistability
2.5. Conditions for Optical Bistability
2.5.1. Homogeneous Nonlinear Absorption and Nonlinear Refractive Index within a Ring Cavity
2.5.2. Standing-Wave Effects
2.5.3. Unsaturable Background Absorption
2.6. Graphical Solutions
2.7. Potential Well Description
2.8. Spectra
2.9. Transverse Effects
2.9.1. Analytical Approaches
2.9.2. Numerical Solutions
2.9.3. Relation to Other Work
2.10 Optical Bistability without External Feedback: Increasing Absorption Optical Bistability
Chapter 3. Intrinsic Optical Bistability Experiments
3.1. Early Searches for Absorptive Optical Bistability
3.2. Sodium Vapor: First Observation of Passive Optical Bistability and Discovery of Nonlinear Index Mechanism.
3.2.1. Experimental Details
3.2.2. Observations of Nonlinear Transmission and Bistability
3.2.3. Nonlinear Refractive Index and Asymmetric Fabry-Perot Scans
3.2.4. Transient, Transverse, and Foreign Gas Effects
3.2.5. Other Na Optical Bistability Experiments
3.3. Ruby: First Solid; Room Temperature; Use of Undriven States
3.4. KERR Media: CS2; Nitrobenzene; Liquid Crystals; Rb
3.5. Thermal Bistability: ZnS, ZnSe, Color Filters, GaAs, Si, Dyes
3.5.1. ZnS and ZnSe Interference Filters
3.5.2. Color Filters, GaAs, Si, Dyes
3.6. GaAs
3.6.1. Bulk GaAs
3.6.2. GaAs-AIGaAs Multiple-Quantum-Well Device
3.7. I n S b
3.8. Other Semiconductors
3.8.1. Te
3.8.2. CdS
3.8.3. SbSI
3.8.4. CuCI
3.8.5. InAs
3.8.6. CdHgTe
3.8.7. GaSe
3.9. Transverse Optical Bistability
3.9.1. Self-Trapping, Self-Lensing, and Self-Bending in Extended Media
3.9.2. Diffraction-Free Encoding in Short Media
3.10 Other Observations and Proposals
3.10.1. Two-Photon Optical Bistability
3.10.2. Tristability, Polarization Effects, and Three-Level Systems
3.10.3. Phase-Conjugation Optical Bistability
3.10.4. Nonlinear Interface Optical Bistability
3.10.5. Guided-Wave Optical Bistability
3.10.6. Mirror-less Optical Bistability
3.10.7. Miscellaneous
Chapter 4. Hybrid Optical Bistability Experiments
4.1. Kastal'skii's Proposal
4.2. Smith-Turner Hybrid Fabry-Perot Bistable Device
4.3. Cavity-less Devices; Student Experiment
4.4. Devices with Waveguide Modulators
4.5. Survey of other Hybrid Experiments
Chapter 5. Optical Switching: Controlling Light with Light
5.1. Transient Nonlinear Fabry-Perot Interferometer
5.2. Pulse Self-Reshaping and Power Limiting
5.3. Control of One Beam by another
5.4. Optical Transistor or Transphasor
5.5. External off and on Switching of a Bistable Optical Device
5.6. Critical Slowing Down
5.7. Phase-Shift Switching
5.7.1. Anomalous Switching and Input-Phase-Shift Switching
5.7.2. Intracavity-Phase-Shift Switching
5.8. Picosecond Gating
Chapter 6. Instabilities: Transient Phenomena with Constant Input
6.1. Regenerative Pulsations by Competing Mechanisms
6.2. Stability Analysis; Self-pulsing Involving Non-resonant Modes
6.3. Ikeda Instabilities: Periodic Oscillations, Period Doubling, and Optical Chaos
6.4. Other Instabilities of Nonlinear cavities
6.5. Fluctuations and Noise
6.5.1. Shot-Noise Fluctuations in a Hybrid Experiment
6.5.2. Theories of Optical Bistability Fluctuations
Chapter 7. Toward Practical Devices
7.1. Desirable Properties; Figures of Merit
7.2. Fundamental-limitations
7.3. Nonlinear Refractive Indices
7.3.1. Comparisons between Materials
7.3.2. Band Filling Nonlinear Refraction (InSb, InAs)
7.3.3. Exciton-Resonant Nonlinear Refraction (GaAs, CdS)
7.3.4. Many-Body Theory of Optical Bistability in Semiconductors
7.3.5. Electron-Hole Plasma Nonlinear Refraction (Hg1-xCdxTe)
7.4. Optical Computing
Appendix A. Differential Gain Without Population Inversion
Appendix B. Fabry-Perot Boundary Conditions
Appendix C. Maxwell-Bloch Equations
Appendix D. Fabry-Perot Cavity Optimization with Linear Absorption and Nonlinear Refractive Index
Appendix E. Instability of Negative-Slope Portion of S-Shaped Curve of IT versus II
Appendix F. Quantum Population Pulsation Approach to Resonance Fluorescence and Optical Bistability Instabilities
F.1. Introduction
F.2. Theory
F.3. Discussion
Appendix G. Fast-Fourier-Transform Solution of Transverse Effects
Appendix H. Critical Exponents in Optical Bistability Transients
Appendix I . Relationship between n2 and x(3)
References
Glossary
Index