Terahertz optical bistability in the metal nanoparticles-graphene nanodisks-quantum dots hybrid systems

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the optical bistability in the metal nanoparticles-graphene nanodisks-quantum dots hybrid plasmonic system in the infrared regime of the electromagnetic radiation. The quantum dot is considered to be a three-level atomic-like system of Λ type interacting with probe and control fields. By using the standard model of the optical bistability where a nonlinear medium is situated in an optical ring cavity, we numerically solve the equation of motion for the density matrix elements that describe the dynamics of the system in steady-state conditions along with the boundary conditions of the cavity to analyze the optical bistability of the system. The effect of the geometrical features of the system and the parameters of the interacting fields including the strength and detuning of the fields on the optical bistability behavior are investigated. Our proposed hybrid plasmonic system shows an ultralow-threshold controllable optical bistability, providing a promising platform for optical bistable devices at the terahertz, such as all-optical switches and biosensors.