Microsecond room-temperature optical bistability and crosstalk studies in ZnS and ZnSe interference filters with visible light and milliwatt powers

Abstract

ZnS and ZnSe interference filters exhibit fast switch-on times (10 and 50 μs, respectively) with milliwatt powers at room temperature. The nonlinearity in the refractive index is found to result from heating by absorption. Crosstalk between two light beams is negligible for separations exceeding 20 μm with 7.7-μm beam diameters.