Eur. Phys. J. B (2018) 91: 79
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2018-80553-7

Regular Article

Controllable transition between optical bistability and multistability in graphene/dielectric/graphene structure

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, P.R. China
² School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, P.R. China

^a e-mail: yinchengping1979@163.com

Received: 2 October 2017
Received in final form: 21 January 2018
Published online: 2 May 2018

Abstract

We theoretically investigated the controllable transition between optical bistability and multistability in graphene/dielectric/graphene structure for TE and TM polarizations. We show such a transition strongly depends on the Fermi energy of graphene, and thus, it can be controlled by adjusting the gate voltage applied on the graphene. In addition, we also show that the transition can be tuned by changing the thickness and permittivity of the dielectric layer, or by varying the wavelength and the incident angle of the input light. Furthermore, three S-type curves appear in our studied structure, which result in quadristability. Our results may find potential applications in optoelectronic devices.