Resonatorless optical bistability in direct-band-gap semiconductors as an example of bistability driven by a phase transition.

Within the framework of a simple numerical model, we investigate the optical properties of a laser-excited direct-band-gap semiconductor (CdS) in the case when both free and bound electron-hole pairs are present. At low temperatures the ionization of excitons proceeds via a first-order phase transition, which is closely related to the Mott transition, and we argue that in direct-band-gap semiconductors it is not suppressed by the electron-hole liquid condensation, as it is in indirect-band-gap materials. The existence of the two corresponding ionization phases with different optical properties is shown to result in optical bistability (OB), which is quite similar to the increasing-absorption (resonatorless) OB but has some peculiarities of its own. Our model also predicts another optical manifestation of this ionization phase transition\char22{}the possibility of absorption oscillations at resonant excitation of excitons.