Influence of nonlinear absorption effects on optical bistability in semiconductor ring resonators

We present a theoretical investigation of optical bistability in a nonlinear semiconductor ring resonator, by taking into account the two-photon absorption and the free-carrier absorption. By solving the intensity equation within the ring resonator, a parametric formulation is obtained for describing the bistability relation between the input and the output intensities. Numerical results show that the nonlinear absorption effects can affect the critical points and domain of the optical bistability.