Intrinsic Optical Bistability in a Single Quantum Well Embedded in a Planar Microcavity

Abstract

On the basis of a local-field theory, the field including the third-order nonlinearity in the quantumwell microcavity structure is rigorously derived, and the expression of optical absorption is thus obtained. Then, intrinsic optical bistability arising from local-field feedback in a square quantum well embedded in a planar microcavity has been studied. The influences of different parameters of the quantum well and microcavity on the optical bistability are discussed.