This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical and experimental studies of atomic optical bistability and multistability, and their dynamical properties in systems with two- and three-level inhomogeneously-broadened atoms inside an optical cavity. By making use of the modified linear absorption and dispersion, as well as the greatly enhanced nonlinearity in the three-level electromagnetically induced transparency system, the optical bistablity and efficient all-optical switching can be achieved at relatively low laser powers, which can be well controlled and manipulated. Until now, the rapid rate of progress in applications of multilevel systems in cross-disciplinary field has made it difficult to newcomers to the field to obtain a broad overview of this topic. This monograph will serve the purpose.
Sample Chapter(s)
Table of Contents (55 KB)
Chapter 1: Introduction (508 KB)
Contents:
- Introduction
- Atomic Optical Bistability in a Two-level System
- Three-level Atoms as the Intracavity Medium and Atomic Optical Bistability
- Atomic Optical Multistability
- Dynamical Instability to Chaos
- Controlled All-optical Switching
- Dynamical Hysteresis and Noise-induced Behaviors
- Conclusion and Outlooks
Readership: Graduate students, researchers and academics in optical physics.
