Optical bistability and multistability in a photorefractive bidirectional ring oscillator

✍ Scribed by T. K. Das; G. C. Bhar

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 581 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0306-8919
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00430556

✦ Synopsis

We consider optical bistability and multistability based on the theory of bidirectional oscillations induced by four-wave mixing (FWM) in a photorefractive (PR) phaseconjugate ring resonator model. Bistable and multistable effects of the intensity of oscillation have been established numerically using a successive bisection method that can predict repeated roots as well as discontinuities. Oscillation intensities are studied as a function of parameters such as the nonlinear coupling strength (gL), the ratio of pump beam intensities (R) and the product of reflection coefficients of three cavity mirrors (Irl). It is shown that for certain combinations of these parameters and assuming that gL exceeds its threshold value, the oscillation intensity becomes double-valued or multivalued corresponding to the number of oscillating modes in the cavity. The multiplicity of solutions as well as the possible regions of bistable/ multistable branches are greatly affected by the sign of gL and also depend on whether R and Irl are greater than or less than unity.