IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics
Nonlinearity of the refractive index due to an excitonic molecule resonance state in CdS
R. Baumert, I. Broser, Klaus Buschick
Abstract
We report the observation of an intensity-dependent refractive-index nonlinearity in CdS due to a resonance state where an excitonic molecule is created by induced absorption of light. The refractive indexnas a function of the incident laser photon energyEis measured directly by light refraction in thin crystal prisms. A renormalized dielectric function describes the measuredn(E)spectra well. This strong refractive-index nonlinearity is well suited to produce an optical bistability and to further strengthen the evidence of CdS to be an important material for laser-induced dynamic gratings.