Abstract

Transverse effects in optical bistability are experimentally investigated by spatial scanning of the near-field profile of the reflected beam in an InSb interferometer at 5.6 μm and 80 K. Spatial hysteresis is clearly observed for two interference orders, while the character of the hysteresis loops shows strong dependence on the radial coordinate and also on interference order. The results are consistent with an electronic nonlinearity and a dominantly diffusive transverse coupling.

© 1990 Optical Society of America

Self-focusing effects in a bistable semiconductor interferometer

Yu. I. Balkarei, M. G. Evtikhov, J. V. Moloney, and Yu. A. Rzhanov
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