Optical bistability in lasers induced by active molecules with a large permanent dipole moment

We study a single-mode laser system, whose active medium consists of molecules with a large difference between excited and ground electrical permanent-dipole moments. In this case, the Maxwell-Bloch equations are further coupled by nonlinear terms involving the ratio between this difference between the dipoles and the transition dipole moment. It is found that these new terms lead to multiple stationary solutions. From the linear stability analysis, we demonstrate the bistable ~or multistable! character of the lasing solutions.