Abstract

A composite system with two-level atoms coupling with the downconverted light of a degenerate optical parametric oscillator (DOPO) is studied in detail. In steady state, this system exhibits bistability when the input pumping intensity (at fundamental frequency) is plotted versus the intracavity downconverted field intensity (at half the fundamental frequency). This bistability has several interesting features that distinguish themselves from the normal atomic optical bistability (two-level atoms inside an optical cavity with external pumping).¹ We investigate the effects due to the atomic detuning between the atomic transition frequency and the downconverted light frequency. For large detuning, the system behaves exactly the same way as the DOPO.

© 1992 Optical Society of America