It has been shown that perfect photon absorption can occur in the linear excitation regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED), in which photons from two identical light fields coupled into two ends of the cavity are completely absorbed and result in excitation of the polariton state of the CQED system. The output light from the cavity is totally suppressed by destructive interference and the polariton state can only decay incoherently back to the ground state. Here we analyze perfect photon absorption and the onset of optical bistability in the nonlinear regime of the CQED and show that perfect photon absorption persists in the nonlinear regime of the CQED below the threshold of optical bistability. Therefore perfect photon absorption is a phenomenon that can be observed in both linear and nonlinear regimes of CQED. Furthermore, our study reveals that optical bistability is influenced by input-light interference and can be manipulated by varying the relative phase of the two input fields.

• Received 21 February 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.93.063805