Optical bistability in a dissipative thermally expanding etalon

The phenomenon of optical bistability is examined for the case of a lossy Fabry-Perot etalon. Using a multibeam interference method and thermal length expansion relationships, we derive an inverted equation which predicts the output transmission for such an etalon. Specific operating parameters are given for silicon wafer structures operating in the lattice vibration absorption regime (10 μm). Experiments using 15 ms CO2laser pulses and Si wafers show resonance-to-nonresonance switching.