Abstract

We have recently reported the observation of large intensity dependent changes in the refractive index of cadmium mercury telluride at 175K and 10.6 µm [1]. This non-linearity arises because of bandgap saturation, as seen in InSb [2], and through a free carrier, plasma contribution. In contrast to the InSb non-linearity which was modelled, in terms of an "n₂I" correction to the linear refractive index (I is the incident intensity), the non-linearity in the narrower bandgap CdHgTe at 175K showed an intensity dependence proportional to I^1/3. This was consistent with the dominant Auger recombination process.

© 1983 Optical Society of America