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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series A Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Nonlinear and optically bistable effects in cadmium sulphide

Claus F. Klingshirn, Klaus M. Bohnert, K. Kempf, H. Kalt

Published Dec 18, 1984• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Among the numerous optical nonlinearities known for CdS, we select here those connected with the transition from a low-density gas of excitons to an electron-hole plasma. The properties of the plasma are reviewed and it is demonstrated that the variations of the indices of absorption and refraction, which occur in this phase transition, allow for the realization of optical bistability.

DOI
10.1098/rsta.1984.0106

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Abstract Among the numerous optical nonlinearities known for CdS, we select here those connected with the transition from a low-density gas of excitons to an electron-hole plasma. The properties of the plasma are reviewed and it is demonstrated that the variations of the indices of absorption and refraction, which occur in this phase transition, allow for the realization of optical bistability.
Within the framework of a simple numerical model, we investigate the optical properties of a laser-excited direct-band-gap semiconductor (CdS) in the case when both free and bound electron-hole pairs are present. At low temperatures the ionization of excitons proceeds via a first-order phase transition, which is closely related to the Mott transition, and we argue that in direct-band-gap semiconductors it is not suppressed by the electron-hole liquid condensation, as it is in indirect-band-gap materials. The existence of the two corresponding ionization phases with different optical properties is shown to result in optical bistability (OB), which is quite similar to the increasing-absorption (resonatorless) OB but has some peculiarities of its own. Our model also predicts another optical manifestation of this ionization phase transition---the possibility of absorption oscillations at resonant excitation of excitons.
A general discussion of the linear-optical properties of free and bound excitons in direct-gap semiconductors at low temperature is presented. This discussion then specializes to CdS. The nonlinear-optical response of CdS is introduced by first discussing the saturation behavior of bound excitons. A new type of cavityless optical bistability based on induced absorption near the free and bound excitons is described. Finally, fast all-optical switching (<1 nsec) at very low switching energies (<8 pJ) is demonstrated, using the giant nonlinearity associated with bound excitons.