Continuous-wave laser-pumped optical bistability in thermally deposited and molecular-beam-grown ZnSe interference filters

We observe and compare conditions for cw optical bistability in both thermal-vacuum-deposited and molecular beam grown ZnSe-based interference filters, at He–Ne-laser (633-nm), Kr (647-nm), and Ar-ion (514-nm) wave-lengths. Bistability is observed at 514 and 647 nm and, by inference, should be observable at a number of intervening wavelengths for a single molecular-beam-grown sample. From our theoretical analysis we also demonstrate that observed drift instabilities in filter nonlinear responses correlate with the highest internal irradiance levels.