Abstract: The characteristic of optical bistability switching of azobenzene molecules is discussed. First, we compute the coefficient of reverse saturable absorption based on the model of photoisomerization of azobenzene molecules. Second,we simulate and compute the process of bistability switching based on reverse saturable absorption. The result shows that the reverse saturable absorption based on photoisomerization of azobenzene molecules can realize full optical switches of bistability. We also discusse the Trans isomer σT, the Cis isomer σC and the thermal constant K to the optical bistability influence.

Key words: azobenzene molecule, photoisomerization, reverse saturable absorption, optical bistability