Abstract

Fast switching times in thermooptic bistable elements held by a cw laser beam and driven by an external pulse have been observed [1,2,3]. An overheating of the nonlinear material may occur during the switching. In this case, a complicated switching behavior is observed [4]. This dynamics can be understood if the temporal variation of the medium temperature is calculated [5]. Moreover, in the experiments with CdS platelets, the transport of heat is very important and the complete spatio-temporal dynamics must be taken into account.

© 1988 Optical Society of America