Abstract

In the limit where intrinsic and technical fluctuations may be neglected, optical bistability is a purely deterministic phenomenon. By adiabatically sweeping the control parameter the system switches at the two turning points and a hysteresis loop, as shown Fig. la, is obtained. In- ceasing the sweeping frequency Ω generally entails an enlargement E of the loop area and, in the one dimensional case, it has been shown, both theoretically¹ and experimentally,^1,2 the E scales as Ω^2/3 A^2/3 (A: sweeping amplitude) for moderate sweeping velocities v (v = AΩ). In contrast, the study of hysteresis in spin systems (involving thermal fluctuations) leads to a scaling law E ~ Ω^1/3 A^2/3.3,4

© 1994 IEEE