OPTICAL BISTABILITY, SWITCHING, AND SELF-PULSING IN DIRECT-GAP SEMICONDUCTORS UPON THE BINDING OF 2 EXCITONS IN A BIEXCITON

A system of nonlinear differential equations describing the dynamic ev olution of coherent excitons, photons, and biexcitons is derived in th e geometry of a ring cavity. Nonlinearity is caused by the direct bind ing of two excitons in a biexciton as a result of their Coulomb intera ction, which was first predicted by Ivanov, Keldysh, and Panashchenko. The equation of state of the theory of optical bistability is obtaine d for the stationary case. The stability of stationary states is studi ed, and the switching times between the branches of the optical bistab ility curve are determined. It is shown that the appearance of nonline ar periodic and chaotic self-pulsations with the creation of a system of limit cycles and strange attractors in phase space is possible in t he unstable portions of the equation of state. Dynamic optical bistabi lity is studied, and the possibility of experimentally detecting the p henomena studied is discussed. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-7834(98)00810-7].