Abstract
We report the first observation of the external switching of an intrinsic optically bistable device by incoherent radiation. The device, consisting of an InSb etalon held at 85 K and optically biased by a continuous wave CO laser operating at 5.5 pm, was switched both from off to on resonance and from on to off resonance by using a photographic flashlamp. Results presented indicate that the required switching energy per unit area can be of the order of 100 fJ pm -2 .

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