Optical bistability using a Fabry-Perot semiconductor-laser amplifier with two holding beams.

Bistable switching of an optical signal beam by a control beam with a different wavelength, using the nonlinearity of a Fabry-Perot semiconductor-laser amplifier, is reported for the first time to the authors' knowledge. Depending on the initial detuning of the optical signal beam, both normal (counterclockwise) and reverse (clockwise) hysteresis are theoretically and experimentally obtained in the signal output power as a function of the control input power.