Increasing Absorption Bistability of CdS at Room Temperature

Visible‐wavelength increasing absorption bistability at room temperature is shown due to lattice heating of CdS in a fully cw‐regime. Cross talk of two beams and the switching behaviour of the bistable system are investigated. For the first time critical slowing down is demonstrated for this type of optical bistability. Quantitative theoretical investigations based on the heat flow equations yield an excellent agreement with the experimental data.