Controlled optical bistability switching in a diode-pumped Tm,Ho:LLF laser

We report on the experimental demonstration of stable all-optical switching between two steady state values of optical bistability from a laser diode end-pumped quasi-three-level Tm,Ho:LLF laser in the 2 μm spectral region. The width of the hysteresis cycle and jump power values can be efficiently controlled by changing the length of the cavity, which is very important to adjust and optimize the optical switching process. The all-optical bistable switching effect is realized by only adding short positive and negative trigger pulses to the pump light. This is, to our knowledge, the first observation of all-optical bistable switching in a rare earth doped solid state laser.