Enhancement of absorption bistability by trapping light planar metamaterial

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to enhance absorption bistability in a thin saturable medium by using a specially designed planar metamaterial with high-Q trapped-mode resonance in the infrared.

Contribution

Introduction of a planar metamaterial design that significantly amplifies absorption bistability in thin saturable media.

Findings

Enhanced bistable response due to trapped-mode resonance

High-Q resonance improves light trapping in the metamaterial

Potential applications in optical switching and modulation

Abstract

We propose to achieve a strong bistable response of a thin layer of a saturable absorption medium by involving a planar metamaterial specially designed to bear a high-Q trapped-mode resonance in the infrared region.