Coherent-feedback control strategy to suppress spontaneous switching in ultralow power optical bistability

Abstract

An optical resonator with intracavity Kerr nonlinearity can exhibit dispersive bistability suitable for all-optical switching. With nanophotonic elements it may be possible to achieve attojoule switching energies, which would be very attractive for ultralow power operation but potentially problematic because of quantum fluctuation-induced spontaneous switching. In this letter I derive a quantum-optical model of two Kerr-nonlinear ring resonators connected in a coherent-feedback loop and show via numerical simulation that a properly designed “controller” cavity can significantly reduce the spontaneous switching rate of a bistable “plant” cavity in a completely embedded and autonomous manner.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 09, 2011
Source ID
10.1063/1.3589994

Entities

People

  • Hideo Mabuchi

Organizations

  • Army Research Office
  • Stanford University

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Quantum Computing
  • Quantum Science - Quantum Dots