Computing optical bistability in one-dimensional nonlinear structures

Efficient numerical methods are developed to analyze optical bistability in a multilayer structure with Kerr nonlinearity. It corresponds to computing multiple solutions of the one-dimensional nonlinear Helmholtz equation for a range of frequencies and incident intensities. The input-output characteristics is calculated as a simple initial value problem without any iterations. Bistability intervals of the incident intensity are determined directly without using a continuation scheme. The complete transmission spectrum at a fixed incident intensity and a varying frequency is obtained including both stable and unstable solutions. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.