Optical bistability in a nonlinear system with distributed feedback (experiment)
Alaverdyan R. B., Arakelyan S. M., Chilingaryan Yu. S.
Hysteresis has been observed experimentally for the first time in the nonlinear reflection (or transmission) during the illumination of a layer of a cholesteric liquid crystal by a low-power (milliwatt) laser beam. An oscillatory (in time) transition to a steady state has been found.