Ultra low-power multistability in [formula omitted]-symmetric periodic structures with saturable coupling, gain and loss

Abstract

The present work investigates the switching dynamics of conventional fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) with saturable coupling and parity-time (PT)-symmetric fiber Bragg gratings (PTFBGs) with saturable coupling (SC) and saturable gain-loss (SGL) in the presence of Kerr nonlinearity (KNL) [model - I] and saturable nonlinearity (SNL) [model - II]. Both system models can generate distinct optical multistability (OM) and bistability (OB) curves, including S-shaped, ramp-like, and mixed OM curves in both unbroken and broken PT-symmetric regimes. The impact of each control parameter on controlling switching intensities, hysteresis width, and the number of stable states is thoroughly examined for both of these system models. The direction of right light incidence enables a significant reduction in the switching intensities to below 100 W/cm2, the lowest critical power ever reported in the literature of PTFBGs, thanks to the concept of both saturable coupling, gain and loss.