Optical bistable behavior of a planar quasi-waveguide interferometer made with a conjugated organic polymer film

Optical bistable behavior in a quasi-waveguide interferometer with the third-order nonlinearity of the guiding film of a soluble polydiacetylene (poly-4BCMU) is demonstrated. This device shows input–output behavior analogous to that of a nonlinear Fabry–Perot étalon. The value of χ(3) for poly-4BCMU estimated from the switching power is considerably higher than the earlier reported nonresonant values measured by other methods.