Abstract
Optical bistability is a remarkable manifestation of cooperative atomic behavior. [l–3] A gas of resonant atoms under the action of an incident driving field undergoes a first order phase transition, displaying discontinuity, hysteresis, and divergence. The steady state behavior of the system is reminiscent of the equilibrium properties of a two-phase system: roughly speaking the bistable transition may be interpreted as being due to the separation of the gas into cooperative and uncorrelated phases in equilibrium.
Partially supported by the Office of Naval Research, Contract No. N0014-76-C-1082.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
H.M. Gibbs, S.L. McCall, T.N.C. Venkatesan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 36,1135 (1976) .
S.L. McCall, Phys. Rev. A 9, 1515 (1974).
R. Bonifacio, L.A. Lugiato, Opt. Comm. 19, 172 (1976).
B.R. Mollow, Phys. Rev. 188, 1969 (1969); ibid. A 5, 1522 (1972).
G.S. Agarwal, L.M. Narducci, D.H. Feng, R. Gilmore (in preparation).
In the jargon of phase transitions this feature of the spectrum is a manifestation of the onset of a soft mode.
R. Bonifacio, P. Schwendimann, F. Haake, Phys. Rev. A 4, 302 (1971).
R. Gilmore, L.M. Narducci, Phys. Rev. A (to be published).
G.S. Agarwal, Springer Tracts in Modern Physics,ed. G. Hohler et al. (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1974) Vol. 7, Sect. 18.
M. Lax, in StatisticaZ Physics, Phase Transitions and Super-fluidity, ed. M. Chretien, E.P. Gross and S. Deser ( Gordon and Breach, New York, 1968 ) Vol. 2, p. 269.
G.S. Agarwal, A.C. Brown, L.M. Narducci and G. Vetri, Phys. Rev. A 15, 1613 (1977).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1978 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this paper
Cite this paper
Agarwa, G.S., Narducci, L.M., Feng, D.H., Gilmore, R. (1978). Dynamical Approach to Steady State and Fluctuations in Optically Bistable Systems. In: Mandel, L., Wolf, E. (eds) Coherence and Quantum Optics IV. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0665-9_31
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0665-9_31
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-0667-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-0665-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive