Beam control and switching in nonlinear meso-optical structures

Abstract

Optical structures which confine light in mesoscale dimensions are of increasing interest for applications requiring an active control of the optical light properties. Recent advances in the fundamental understanding of such structures has lead to the prediction and demonstration of unusual and intriguing emission patterns in highly chaotic mesoscopic cavities containing Laser emitting dyes.[1,2] Here, we investigate the influence of a controlling nonlinearity of second and third order in the spatio-temporal dynamics of single and multiple cavity arrangements. In the single cavity case the presence of a nonlinear interaction results in the disappearance of the chaotic evolution while in the multiple cavity case a new geometry resulting in a 2D optical switching network is investigated.