Modeling of optically controlled reflective bistability in a vertical cavity semiconductor saturable absorber

Bistability switching between two optical signals has been studied theoretically utilizing the concept of cross absorption modulation in a vertical cavity semiconductor saturable absorber (VCSSA). The probe beam is fixed at a wavelength other than the low power cavity resonance wavelength, which exhibits bistable characteristic by controlling the power of a pump beam (λpump≠λprobe). The cavity nonlinear effects that arises simultaneously from the excitonic absorption bleaching, and the carrier induced nonlinear index change has been considered in the model. The high power absorption in the active region introduces thermal effects within the nonlinear cavity due to which the effective cavity length changes. This leads to a red-shift of the cavity resonance wavelength, which results a change in phase of the optical fields within the cavity. In the simulation, the phase-change due to this resonance shifting is considered to be constant over time, and it assumes the value corresponding to the maximum input power. Further, an initial phase detuning of the probe beam has been considered to investigate its effect on switching. It is observed from the simulated results that, the output of the probe beam exhibits either clockwise or counter-clockwise bistability, depending on its initial phase detuning.