Broadband optical bistable switching in a one-dimensional nonlinear coupled cavity structure

We demonstrate broadband optical bistable switching (OBS) operation in an optimized one-dimensional coupled cavity structure with only one defect cavity, which is doped by Kerr nonlinear medium. We find that with the change of the refractive index of the defect cavity, the transmittivity of the whole band changes sensitively, which results in that the bistable switching can occur in the whole transmission band of the system. We numerically analyze the transmission properties using nonlinear transfer matrix method, and bistable switching effects are observed in the whole band with the transition thresholds at about the same level. We also compare the transition thresholds of this structure with that of other OBS system, and find that the thresholds are not increased apparently.