Optical bistability and multistability in an open ladder-type atomic system

A novel scheme is proposed for controlling the optical bistability and multistability in an atomic system. In an open ladder-type three-level atomic system, it is shown that, by adjusting the ratio between atomic injections and exit rates from the cavity, the intensity threshold of optical bistability can be controlled. The effect of incoherent pumping field and spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) on optical bistability for different values of exit rates is also discussed. It is found that SGC makes the medium phase dependent, so the optical bistability and multistability threshold can be controlled via relative phase between applied fields. Moreover, it is shown that the optical bistability can be switched to optical multistability, which is favorable for the next generation of all-optical systems and quantum networks.