Abstract

The discovery of band-gap resonant giant nonlinear refraction in the semiconductor InSb at 77 K has led to the demonstration of a number of devices based upon the combination of this nonlinearity with positive or negative optical feedback. For the InSb system a further important characteristic is that the absorption level, 5-50 cm⁻¹, is sufficiently small that in a device of typical thickness (100-μm) heating effects are small and cw operation is possible.

© 1984 Optical Society of America