Nonlinear all-photonic-crystal Fabry-Perot resonator with angle-independent bistability

We propose a nonlinear all-photonic-crystal (PhC) Fabry-Perot cavity tuned to the subdiffractive regime of the interior PhC, and we study angular-resolved nonlinear propagation of monochromatic plane wave excitations. With rigorous numerical simulations, we show that, for sufficiently large negative pump detunings and a focusing nonlinearity, the transmitted field has a bistable dependence on the pump field. Moreover, we reveal that, in contrast to a homogeneous resonator for different inclinations, the hysteresis curve is virtually unchanged for a fairly wide angular range. This may pave the way for obtaining novel kinds of nonlinear localized solutions in driven nonlinear resonators. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America