Dynamic nonlinear optics in 2D photonic crystals

We will discuss here on experimental demonstrations concerning dynamic nonlinear operation of both Bloch modes and localized nanocavities in 2D PCs, where the increasing of the photon lifetime and the decreasing of the thermal dissipation times play an important role. We will further focus on optical bistability, self-pulsing and fast thermo-optical excitability. The latter is demonstrated on the basis of a microsecond time scale dynamics for thermal dissipation. An excitable system is known to exhibit all-or-none pulse responses to an external perturbation, depending on whether this perturbation is above or below a threshold. For perturbation energies close to the excitable threshold, a critical slowing down delays the output pulse for amount comparable to the pulse duration (up to 5 ns) which can be used as a basis for realizing all-optical delays. The end of the talk will be devoted to a more general discussion of new trends on temporal behavior in 2D PC nonlinear coupled cavities.