COMBINED DISTRIBUTED FEEDBACK AND FABRY-PEROT STRUCTURES WITH A PHASE-MATCHING LAYER FOR OPTICAL BISTABLE DEVICES

A combined distributed feedback and Fabry-Perot (DFB/FP) structure with a phase-matching layer is proposed for optical bistable devices. Using a simple and versatile nonlinear transfer-matrix method, we demonstrate that the DFB/FP structure can have a much lower bistability threshold than a single DFB structure with a comparable total thickness. The combined structure can also have lower threshold and less sensitivity to absorption than a traditional nonlinear Fabry-Perot etalon.