We study the simultaneous occurrence of dispersive optical bistability and nonlinear polarization rotation in a nonlinear photonic resonator. The demonstrated bistable hysteresis curves of the Stokes parameters broaden the notion of optical bistability in nonlinear resonators beyond that of the traditional optical-power hysteresis curve. We present a theoretical model to fully understand the polarization hysteresis curves observed in the laboratory and to establish the relevant scaling parameters for bistable action. By optimizing the optical-signal power injected into each polarization mode of the resonator and optimizing the small-signal birefringence of the resonator by selection of the signal wavelength, a polarization rotation of 30% orthogonality was achieved between stable polarization states in the lab. The theoretical and experimental methods reported here are carried out for the case of a Fabry–Perot semiconductor optical amplifier, and are extendable to the investigation of simultaneous occurrence of these phenomena in other nonlinear media (such as Kerr media) and other photonic resonators.

中文翻译：

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同时非线性偏振旋转和色散双稳态：理论和实验分析

我们研究了在非线性光子谐振器中色散双稳态和非线性偏振旋转的同时发生。所证明的斯托克斯参数的双稳态磁滞曲线拓宽了非线性谐振器中的光学双稳性的概念，超越了传统的光功率磁滞曲线。我们提出了一个理论模型，以充分了解在实验室中观察到的极化磁滞曲线，并为双稳态作用建立相关的缩放参数。通过优化注入到谐振器每个偏振模式的光信号功率并通过选择信号波长来优化谐振器的小信号双折射，在实验室中稳定偏振态之间实现了30％正交的偏振旋转。