We proposed an all-optical bistable unit made of a Faraday medium and investigated theoretically its unique characteristics. Optical bistability in our proposed unit was experimantally confirmed. In this paper, using a 830 nm wavelength laser diode and a thin garnet film rotator as a Fabry-Perot resonator, optical bistability is confirmed again. Bistable characteristics, threshold incident power, on-off power ratio, and dynamic characteristics, are examined to attain controllability with the external magnetic field. In our proposed unit's construction, an all-optical sensing device (a magnetic field sensor) is proposed and evaluated for application to the OB operation.

Date Published: 30 September 1994
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 2263, Current Developments in Optical Design and Optical Engineering IV, (30 September 1994); doi: 10.1117/12.187990

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2263:
Current Developments in Optical Design and Optical Engineering IV
Robert E. Fischer; Warren J. Smith, Editor(s)