Optical bistability of stimulated-emission lines in Sm³⁺-doped glass microspheres

Abstract

A third-order optical nonlinear effect in a spherical glass resonator doped with ${\mathrm{Sm}}^{3+}$ ions has been observed on stimulated emission lines of the ${}^4{G}_{5/2}–{}^6{H}_{7/2}$ transition, in which the excitation beam of an ${\mathrm{Ar}}^{+}$ laser in a 488-nm single line is coupled with the glass resonator through a prism. A spherical form is produced during a free fall of fractional glasses in a longitudinal electric furnace configured vertically. The prism-coupled glass microsphere exhibits sufficient performance to confine photon energy as a resonance of light inside the sphere and offers the prospect of new applications to functional photonic circuits.

© 2001 Optical Society of America

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