Engineering optical soliton bistability in colloidal media

We consider a mixture consisting of two species of spherical nanoparticles dispersed in a liquid medium. We show that with an appropriate choice of refractive indices and particle diameters, it is possible to observe the phenomenon of optical soliton bistability in two spatial dimensions in a broad beam power range. Previously, this possibility was ruled out in the case of a single-species colloid. As a particular example, we consider the system of hydrophilic silica particles and gas bubbles generated in the process of electrolysis in water. The interaction of two soliton beams can lead to switching of the lower branch solitons to the upper branch, and the interaction of solitons from different branches is phase independent and always repulsive. ©2010 The American Physical Society