Optical Bistability In Random Glassy Polymers
- 15 January 1990
- proceedings article
- Published by SPIE-Intl Soc Optical Eng
- Vol. 1147, 2-11
- https://doi.org/10.1117/12.962102
Abstract
Optical bistability is the quantum optical realization of a first order phase transition far from equilibrium. A resonant nonlinear optical response of it-electron excitations in low dimensional structures provides the nonlinearity essential to the onset of bistability. Saturable absorption studies of glassy polymer films consisting of quasi two-dimensional conjugated disc-like structures of silicon naphthalocyanine demonstrate that on-resonance the system behaves as an optical Bloch system with an intensity dependent refractive index n2 of 1x10-4 cm2/kW in the wavelength range of standard laser diodes. Based on this result, electronic absorptive optical bistability is observed on a nanosecond time scale in a nonlinear Fabry-Perot interferometer employing the saturably absorbing naphthalocyanine film as the nonlinear optical medium.Keywords
This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: