Abstract

Large refractive index changes observed in the InSb-10 µm system, due to the generation of free electron-hole pairs by a two-photon excitation mechanism, has previously been exploited to demonstrate a number of nonlinear effects (i.e. optical bistability, optical power limiting, etc.) [1-2]. Using a photo-Hall technique, we have directly measured for the first time the refractive index cross-section σ = Δn/ΔN (i.e. the refractive index change contribution per generated electron-hole pair) by monitoring the transmission of an InSb etalon, to determine the index change Δn while simultaneously observing the photo-Hall signal resulting from the photogenerated carrier desity ΔN.

© 1988 Optical Society of America