On the resonant optical bistability condition

TL;DR

This paper analytically investigates the conditions for resonant optical bistability in a two-level system influenced by local-field effects, deriving exact solutions at the bistability threshold.

Contribution

It provides a general analytical derivation of the bistability condition and steady-state solutions considering diverse systems and self-action effects.

Findings

Derived the bistability condition analytically.

Obtained exact steady-state solutions at the threshold.

Included system diversity via Green's dyadic surface part.

Abstract

We address a two level system in an environment interacting with the electromagnetic field in the dipole approximation. The resonant optical bistability induced by local-field effects is studied by considering the relationship between the population difference and the excitation field. The diversity of various systems is included by accounting for the system self-action via the surface part of the Green's dyadic in the general form. The bistability condition and the exact solution of the steady state optical Bloch equations at the absolute bistability threshold are derived analytically.