The asymmetric optical bistability based on the one-dimensional photonic crystals composed of the defect layers containing the magnetized ferrite and nonlinear Kerr dielectric under the transverse electric polarization

Abstract

Utilizing the modified transfer matrix method, under transverse electric polarization, asymmetric optical bistability is achieved by designing one-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) with two Bragg reflector segments containing traditional dielectrics and asymmetric defect multilayers consisting of a magnetized ferrite and nonlinear Kerr dielectric. When the incident wave frequency equals the resonance frequency, owing to the breaking of symmetry in the defect layers and the Voigt magneto-optical effect generating in the magnetized ferrite layers together with the Kerr effect existing in the Kerr dielectric layers, the asymmetric optical modulations are presented as the bistable state in the forward propagation and the multistable state in the backward propagation. Also, the diverse energy localization distributions of the electric field in the proposed PCs from the two incident directions are graphically illustrated. Furthermore, the optical bistable switch-up and switch-down thresholds of the proposed resonator can be tailored flexibly by the external magnetic field, the incident angle, the thicknesses of different dielectrics, and the nonlinear coefficient of Kerr dielectric. This work provides a constructive proposal for the design of light modulators, such as the optical isolator, the optical triode, the all-optical diode, and the sensor.