Multistability in a thin layer semiconductor laser
with inclined
external cavity
I.E. Protsenko 
, A.N. Oraevsky , J.D. Graham 
, and D.K. Bandy
Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow, Russia;
Department of Physics and Center for Laser Research,
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
Intensive searches for a high-contrast optical bistable devices continues at present time. It was shown, that a local field correction effect may lead to good quality bistability in thin layers resonantly interacted with optical radiation [1]. Local field correction phenomenon plays a substantial role in a thin layer laser (TLL) [2].
We present a theoretical study of semiconductor TLL with the active layer positioned inside external high-finesse cavity and inclined with respect to the cavity axes. External cavity stabilizes generation, decreases the generation threshold and provides additional nonlinearity. Threshold conditions, stationary solutions and laser dynamics are analyzed. Parameter region, where multistability in stationary generation regime presents, is found. It is proved, that such multistability is provided by the local field correction effect. Hysteresis between the trivial and the non-trivial stationary solutions is possible due to nonlinear reflection from the active layer. It is interesting to note, that the nonlinear reflection from the layer decreases the generation threshold.
Presented multistable laser is miniature, and it has no restrictions in multistability contrast related with the finite energy of external signal. We expect that it will be useful in optical information processing setups.