The optical response of axially uniform nonlinear photonic bandgap fibers is studied theoretically. We observe gap-soliton-like generation and associated bistability, similar to what is typically found in periodically modulated nonlinear structures. This response stems from the nature of the guided-mode dispersion relations, which involve a frequency cutoff at zero wave vector. In such systems,...

We experimentally demonstrate optical bistability in Er-Yb phosphate glass microspheres at 295 K. Bistability is associated with both Er fluorescence and lasing behavior, and chromatic switching. The chromatic switching results from an intrinsic mechanism exploiting the thermal coupling of closely-spaced energy levels, and occurs simultaneously with the intensity switching. A contrast ratio of ...

We use an exact solution of the relaxation-time Boltzmann equation in an uniform AC electric field to describe the nonlinear optical response of graphene in the terahertz (THz). The cases of monolayer, bilayer and ABA-stacked trilayer graphene are considered, and the monolayer species is shown to be the most appropriate one to exploit the nonlinear free electron response. We find that a single ...

We predict nanoscale field and dipole patterns due to the broken uniformity of a laser-driven local field in 1D and 2D lattices. They may result in size-related resonances and large field enhancement, which in turn can give rise to low-intensity nonlinear optical effects, e.g., optical bistability, even in the ultimate case of a pair of coupled atoms. At certain, "magic" numbers and configurati...

We report on collective nonlinear dynamics in an optical lattice formed inside a high finesse ring cavity in a so far unexplored regime, where the light shift per photon times the number of trapped atoms exceeds the cavity resonance linewidth. We observe bistability and self-induced squeezing oscillations resulting from the retroaction of the atoms upon the optical potential wells. We can well ...

An optical resonator with intracavity Kerr nonlinearity can exhibit dispersive bistability suitable for alloptical switching. With nanophotonic elements it may be possible to achieve attojoule switching energies, which would be very attractive for ultra-low power operation but potentially problematic because of quantum fluctuation-induced spontaneous switching. In this Letter I derive a quantum...

We present detailed theoretical and numerical analysis of certain novel non-linear optical phenomena enabled by photonic bandgap fibers. In particular, we demonstrate the feasibility of optical bistability in an axially modulated nonlinear photonic bandgap fiber through analytical theory and detailed numerical experiments. At 1.55microm carrier wavelength, the in-fiber devices we propose can op...

We analyze the resonant transmission of light through a photonic-crystal waveguide side coupled to a Kerr nonlinear cavity, and demonstrate how to design the structure geometry for achieving bistability and all-optical switching at ultralow powers in the slow-light regime. We show that the resonance quality factor in such structures scales inversely proportional to the group velocity of light a...

In this paper, we analyze theoretically the optical steady behavior in GaAs quantum well structure which interacts with a single elliptically polarized field (EPF) and a π-polarized probe field. Due to the existence of the robust nonradiative coherence, we demonstrate that the controllable optical steady behavior including multi-stability (OM) and optical bistability (OB) can be obtained. More ...

Using a combination of resist reflow to form a highly circular etch mask pattern and a low-damage plasma dry etch, high-quality-factor silicon optical microdisk resonators are fabricated out of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. Quality factors as high as Q = 5x10(6) are measured in these microresonators, corresponding to a propagation loss coefficient as small as alpha ~ 0.1 dB/cm. The differe...