Abstract

Bistable devices used as switches are a fundamental component of electronic and optical devices. We formulate a general dynamical theory of hysteresis and delayed bifurcations in periodically switched bistable systems. A generic model for a switched bistable system, the overdamped dynamics of a particle in a quartic double-well potential with a periodic driving force, is analyzed. The predictions of the analytic theory are tested by numerical simulation and by experiments on a bistable semiconductor laser. Excellent agreement is found in both situations. We find that the increase of the area of the hysteresis loop scales as the two-thirds power of the switching frequency. From this, we deduce a law for the increase in input power necessary to maintain repetitive switching as the driving frequency is increased.

© 1990 Optical Society of America