STABLE SPATIALLY LOCALIZED SOLUTIONS AND HOLES IN OPTICAL BISTABILITY

We investigate the spatial behavior of the electric field for optical bistability in the good cavity limit. We show that stable spatially lo calized solutions exist in one and two dimensions. In addition we find that stable one-dimensional hole solutions also arise in this driven non-eqilibrium system with dissipation and dispersion thus demonstrati ng that stable holes are not restricted to dispersive systems, but can emerge in strongly dissipative systems as well. A critical comparison with the properties of stable localized solutions in other driven dis sipative systems is also included.