Abstract

ZnSe and ZnS are known to have a thermal nonlinearity. This has been used in the past for demonstrating optical bistability¹,²,³, however the thermal nature of the nonlinearity makes these switches inherently slow and inefficient. Here we have measured the nonlinear spectra and decay times for a large, fast, electronic nonlinearity in MBE-grown thin films of ZnSe. These samples were grown on GaAs substrates which were then removed by chemical etching.

© 1988 Optical Society of America