2011/01/18 by Hideo Mabuchi · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Bistability #Kerr effect #Laser #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Nanophotonics #Nonlinear optics #Nonlinear system #Optical bistability #Optical burst switching #Optical performance monitoring #Optical switch #Optics #Optoelectronics #Photonic and Optical Devices #Photonics #Physics #Power (physics) #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics #Resonator #Spontaneous emission #physics.optics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.3589994
8 pages, 4 color figures
arxiv created 2011/01/18 · openalex publication_date 2011/05/09 · arxiv updated 2015/05/27 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
An optical resonator with intracavity Kerr nonlinearity can exhibit dispersive bistability suitable for all-optical switching. With nanophotonic elements it may be possible to achieve attojoule switching energies, which would be very attractive for ultralow power operation but potentially problematic because of quantum fluctuation-induced spontaneous switching. In this letter I derive a quantum-optical model of two Kerr-nonlinear ring resonators connected in a coherent-feedback loop and show via numerical simulation that a properly designed “controller” cavity can significantly reduce the spontaneous switching rate of a bistable “plant” cavity in a completely embedded and autonomous manner.