Optical bistable response of an open linear Frenkel chain: Exciton-exciton annihilation and boundary effects

A numerical study of the optical bistable response of an open linear Frenkel chain of three-level molecules is carried out, making use of the one-molecule density-matrix approach. We analyze the joint effect of the presence of boundaries and of the exciton-exciton annihilation on the bistable behavior of a chain. The former is going to destroy such behavior due to the spatial inhomogeneity of the population growing with time. The latter resists a preferable creation of the population at a certain segment of the chain stabilizing the system and, thus, provides the conditions for bistability to be realized.