An optical resonator with intracavity Kerr nonlinearity can exhibit dispersive bistability suitable for all-optical switching. With nanophotonic elements it may be possible to achieve attojoule switching energies, which would be very attractive for ultralow power operation but potentially problematic because of quantum fluctuation-induced spontaneous switching. In this letter I derive a quantum-optical model of two Kerr-nonlinear ring resonators connected in a coherent-feedback loop and show via numerical simulation that a properly designed “controller” cavity can significantly reduce the spontaneous switching rate of a bistable “plant” cavity in a completely embedded and autonomous manner.
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Hideo Mabuchi (2011) studied this question.