Nonlinear Optical Bistability Based on Surface Plasmons with Nonlinear Dirac Semimetal Substrate

Abstract

In this paper, we theoretically investigated the low-threshold and controllable optical bistability (OB) of a graphene-based Otto configuration with a nonlinear three-dimensional Dirac semimetal (3D DSM) as the substrate. The combined effect of the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in graphene and the very high third-order nonlinear conductivity of the 3D DSM enabled this scheme to achieve a relatively low optical bistability threshold. At the same time, this simple multilayer structure showed the tunability of OB due to the fact that the reflectance could be modulated by regulating the Fermi energy of the 3D DSM. Furthermore, we also found that the OB hysteresis curve was closely related to the relaxation time of the 3D DSM and the thickness of the air layer. We believe that this multilayer configuration could provide a reference idea for devising a bistable device.