Spontaneous oscillations, single pulses, and transient processes in multistage interferometers with competing nonlinearities

A numerical investigation was made of a mathematical model describing the dynamics of a semiconductor Fabry–Perot interferometer with competing carrier-density and thermal mechanisms of nonlinear refraction and with absorption that increases on increase in temperature. The first-ever investigations were made of the following topics: spontaneous oscillations of the transmission near various equilibrium conditions and switching from one limit cycle to another; generation of single pulses in response to weak additional illumination in the case of a monostable optical multivibrator; nonmonotonic transient processes during switching. The proposed model made it possible to study the transition of a dispersive optical bistability to spontaneous oscillations and then to an absorptive bistability (breakdown) as a result of variation of the parameters of the system.