We demonstrate optical bistability in a micrometer-sized silicon ring resonator based on the free-carrier dispersion effect in silicon. We measure the transfer function of the resonator showing a hysteresis loop with an input optical power of less than 10 mW. The influence of the thermal optical effect, which is minimized in the experiment by use of nanosecond pulses, is evaluated theoretically...

The authors experimentally demonstrate feedback-controlled electro-optic bistability in the whispering gallery travelling-wave optical resonance of a LiNbO3 microdisk. Simulations confirm the physical origin of the behaviour.

A motion-induced optical bistability is shown for a metal nanoparticle dimer that is plasmon coupled and bound with dispersion (colloidal) forces. The effect does not require any material nonlinearity.

The optical bistability of an aerosol particle is reported for the first time to the authors' knowledge. The mechanism for the effect is associated with the photothermal evaporation that accompanies the visible absorption by structure resonances.

A nanoparticle undergoing light-induced transformations between structural phases with different optical properties is an inheritably bistable structure and this bistability can be used to create a resonator-free optical memory element, operating at very low power levels. We experimentally demonstrate this memory functionality using a film of gallium nanoparticles, and we present a method for d...

A four-port nonlinear photonic crystal system is discussed that exhibits optical bistability with negligible backscattering to the inputs, making it particularly suitable for integration with other active devices on the same chip. Devices based on this system can be made to be small [O(lambda3)] in volume, have a nearly instantaneous response, and consume only a few milliwatts of power. Among m...

This paper presents the nonlinear dynamics of laser cooled and trapped cesium atoms placed inside an optical cavity and interacting with a probe light beam slightly detuned from the 6S1/2F = 4 to 6P3/2F = 5 transition. The system exhibits very strong bistability and instabilities. The origin of the latter is found to be a competition between optical pumping and non-linearities due to saturation...

We deal with second-harmonic generation in chi((2)) nonlinear-optical resonators such as prism or grating couplers. The theoretical study is performed within the framework of a recently developed coupled-mode analysis leading to a set of equations governing the amplitudes of pump and second-harmonic frequency fields. We predict analytically that second-harmonic generation in prism or grating co...

We report observations of novel dynamic behavior in resonantly-enhanced stimulated Raman scattering in Rb vapor. In particular, we demonstrate a dynamic hysteresis of the Raman scattered optical field in response to changes of the drive laser field intensity and/or frequency. This effect may be described as a dynamic form of optical bistability resulting from the formation and decay of atomic c...

Exciton–polaritons in optical cavities exhibit strong nonlinearities predominantly because of the third-order Kerr-like interactions mediated by excitonic component. Under quasi-resonant excitation, depending on energy incident laser, it results limiting or bistable behavior. The latter phenomenon is manifested hysteresis loop observed input–output power characteristics, when a cavity quasi-res...