A Critical Phenomenon-Based Optical Bistability in Vanadium Dioxide

Abstract

The characteristics of nonlinear thin film etalons and interference filters are being studied because of their potential use as optical logical elements1. Low-power optical bistability in thin film nonlinear interference filters has been demonstrated at room temperature using zinc sulphide (ZnS) and zinc selenide2 (ZnSe). These bistable devices rely on electronic nonlinearities to operate. A switching power of 5 mW and switching speeds of 1 ms - 10 μs are typical for these devices.