| Optical bistability has been observed on polydiacetylene (poly-4-BCMU) using an uncoated nonlinear Fabry-Perot interferometer and a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. This nonlinear interferometer has a structure consisting of a poly-4-BCMU nonlinear thin film sandwiched between two glass prisms. Without reflective coatings, the reflectivity of Fabry-Perot interferometer is due solely to the refractive indices of film and glass. Both clockwise and counter-clockwise hysteresis curves were observed depending on the angle of incidence.; Computer simulations have been performed assuming both steady state conditions and dynamic conditions. We concluded that a dynamic model (accounting for pulse width, cavity round-trip times, and detector response time) is necessary to model accurately the experimentally observed effect. |
