Optical bistability and multistability in one-dimensional periodic metal-dielectric photonic crystal

The optical bistability and multistability in one-dimensional photonic crystal with the periodic metal-dielectric structure is investigated theoretically. In linear transmission, a structure with N periods will support N - 1 resonant modes which correspond to the transmission peaks. Strong localized effect in these resonant modes is obtained. Optical bistability and multistability can be achieved when the incident wavelength is close to a resonance, which can be seen as an effect of the dynamic shifting of the wavelength of the resonant modes. It is found that the threshold for optical bistability in the periodic resonant structure is lower than the nonresonant metal-dielectric structure. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.