Quantitative comparisons between experiment and theory for the steady-state characteristics in optical bistability with two-state atoms are reported. Nonresonant conditions for both the cavity and the atomic medium are investigated in two different cavity geometries (ring and standing wave). The experiment fulfills to a very good degree the conditions that have been widely employed in theoretical models that consider a collection of two-state atoms interacting with a single mode of the electromagnetic field in a cavity.

• Received 3 June 1987

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.36.3248