Low‐power optical bistability in a thermally stable AlGaAs étalon

Optical bistability with 10 mW input power is reported in a thermally stable, nonlinear AlGaAs etalon. A 3‐μm‐thick silver layer, which serves both as high‐reflecting mirror and heat sink, makes it possible to operate the device at arbitrary duty cycles and pulse lengths up to 0.5 s, without any regenerative pulsations, at room temperature. The device operation depends on the plasma‐induced electronic nonlinearity, and switching times are typically 10 ns. Device performance is compared with results from a numerical model which takes diffraction, diffusion, and heat conduction into account.

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