Recoil-induced effects in absorptive optical bistability - art. no. 023807

We present an analysis of absorptive optical bistability in a system of col d atoms enclosed in a bidirectional ring cavity. This analysis is carried o ut using a system of equations that extends the so-called Maxwell-Bloch mod el to self-consistently include atomic center-of-mass motion. The analysis predicts an instability resulting in the simultaneous generation of an atom ic density grating and a coherently backscattered radiation field. The form ation of the density grating arises from a modulation of the radiation pres sure forces exerted on the atoms. A consequence of this instability is that the lower transmission branch of the usual bistability curve, where atomic motion is neglected, can become unstable and the system switches to the up per transmission branch destroying the bistability.