Cavityless optical bistability due to light-induced absorption in cadmium sulfide

Abstract
Cavityless, whole‐beam optical bistability in thin, uncoated cadmium sulfide platelets is observed at milliwatt power levels when a cw laser is tuned near a sharp extrinsic excitonic resonance in cadmium sulfide (the I2 bound exciton). Very large contrast ratios between the on and off states are measured. The detuning and temperature dependence of the bistability results are reported. Preliminary transient measurements are also discussed.