We study the optical bistability for a Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms in a driven optical cavity with a Kerr medium. We find that both the threshold point of optical bistability transition and the width of optical bistability hysteresis can be controlled by appropriately adjusting the Kerr interaction between the photons. In particular, we show that the optical bistability will disappear when the Kerr interaction exceeds a critical value.
We theoretically investigate the stationary entanglement of a optomechanical system with an additional Kerr medium in the cavity. There are two kinds of interactions in the system, photon-mirror interaction and photon-photon interaction. The optomechanical entanglement created by the former interaction can be effectively controlled by the latter one. We find that the optomechanical entanglement is suppressed by Kerr interaction due to photon blockage. We also find that the Kerr interaction can create the stationary entanglement and induce the resonance of entanglement in the small detuning regime. These results show that the Kerr interaction is an effective control for the optomechanical system.