Room temperature optical bistability in hydrogenated amorphous silicon-carbon alloys

Abstract Hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbon alloys (a-SiC x :H) were fabricated by radio frequency glow discharge technique. The optically bistable phenomenon was observed for the first time using those uncoated materials as nonlinear medium. The effect was obtained with a high intensity Nd:YAG laser at the room temperature. The excitation wavelength is 532 nm and the switching time is in the nanosecond scale. The different two kinds of nonlinear characteristics have been observed, which can be tentatively explained using the band-tail states blocking effect and thermal effect respectively.