IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics
Intracavity optical bistability due to thermally induced changes in absorption and refraction
M. Dagenais, Alisa Surkis, Wayne F. Sharfin, Herbert G. Winful
Abstract
Optical bistability in the presence of an optically induced absorption is observed when a thin 13 μm CdS sample is inserted between two mirrors of 90 percent reflectivity. In our experiment, a modulated CW laser of about 15 mW peak power is tuned on each side of theAfree exciton resonance in CdS, and the transmission characteristics are studied. A theoretical calculation is presented and good agreement is obtained.