Single photon optical bistability (original) (raw)

Single-photon optical bistability in a small nonlinear cavity

Physical Review A

We theoretically investigated the bistability in a small Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) with the optical wavelength size cavity, the nonlinear Kerr medium, and only a few photons, on average, excited by the external quantum field. Analytical expressions for the stationary mean photon number, the bistability domain, the field, and the photon number fluctuation spectra are obtained. Multiple stationary states of the FPI cavity field with different spectra are possible at realistic conditions, for example, in the FPI with the photonic crystal cavity and the semiconductor-doped glass nonlinear medium.

Quantum analysis of optical bistability and spectrum of fluctuations

Optics Letters, 1978

We discuss the approach to equilibrium and the fluctuations of a bistable system under dynamical conditions such that the field variables can be eliminated adiabatically. The atomic system evolves under the action of the coherent pumping of an external field and of collective and incoherent relaxation processes. The competition between pumping and relaxation effects causes the atomic steady-state configurations to depend discontinuously on the strength of the driving field. We derive an explicit expression for the spectrum of the forward-scattered light, which exhibits hysteresis and a discontinuous dependence on the driving-field amplitude.

Quantum theory of optical bistability. III. Atomic fluorescence in a low-Q cavity

Physical Review A, 1983

We specialize the quantum-statistical theory of optical bistability developed in "Optical Bistability. II" to a low-Q cavity. From a linearized Fokker-Planck equation derived in the positive I' representation, the steady-state correlation matrix and spectrum of fluctuations are calculated. Expressions which normally assume a positive-definite diffusion matrix are shown to be valid for nonpositive-definite diffusion. For absorptive bistability we find agreement with results derived previously by quite different methods. More generally we extend previously published results by including atomic and cavity detunings. We compare the transmitted spectrum for dispersive bistability with that for absorptive bistability, and photon antibunching in dispersive bistability is discussed.

Optical bistability via quantum interference from incoherent pumping and spontaneous emission

Journal of Luminescence, 2011

We theoretically investigate the optical bistability (OB) in a V-type three-level atomic system confined in a unidirectional ring cavity via incoherent pumping field. It is shown that the threshold of optical bistability can be controlled by the rate of an incoherent pumping field and by interference mechanism arising from the spontaneous emission and incoherent pumping field. We demonstrate that the optical bistability converts to optical multi-stability (OM) by the quantum interference mechanism.

Space and time-dependent effects in optical bistability

Optics Communications, 1979

We present numerical studies of optical bistability which admit variations in both space and time in the governing cnumber equations. We justify mean field theory for both the steady state and time dependent regimes for low enough cavity transmissivity T: but for T) 0.2 mean field theory is scarcely applicable. Higher harmonic fields are important at low T (high reflexion). As expected the steady state hysterisis behaviour at low T is considerably modified in the time dependent regime. Transistor action at high T ~ 0.9 is described. In general the numerical results show good qualitative agreement with the experiment of Gibbs et al.

Optical Bistability and Reversed Switching Effect in a Three-photon Resonant Medium

J Mod Optic, 1982

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Dispersive optical bistability in a ring cavity

Optics Communications, 1978

Equations governing the behaviour of a single mode high-Q ring cavity are obtained for a coherent driving field (detuned to both cavity and atoms) and inhomogeneously broadened atomic transitions using a Hamiltonian approach. We find the region of bistability and critical points in the homogeneous broadening case. Numerical results including inhomogeneous broadening show that bistability is obtained more readily by detuning both the atomic transition and the cavity mode relative to the driving field.

Optical bistability with dispersion

Physical Review A, 1980

The purpose of this work is to study the behavior of atomic fluctuations and the spectrum of transmitted light by a nonlinear medium with absorption and dispersion. The authors make use of the system-size expansion and apply it to the quantum-mechanical Langevin's equations for the atomic operators and-obtain the characteristic curves for bistable behavior, macroscopic atomic expectation values, and the spectrum of the atomic fluctuations. The calculated spectrum of transmitted light exhibits line narrowing near bistable thresholds, discontinuous formation of bands along the high-transmission bistable branch, and hysteresis effects, etc., for detuning~g~less than a critical value g, . For~8~& g" the discontinuous character of all the physical variables of the system vanishes; the system no longer exhibits bistable behavior. The system, however, still shows cooperative and single-atom behavior separated by a critical value of the intensity of the incident coherent pump at which a critical slowing down of the medium occurs, exhibiting a phase transition.